A commercial bank in China has introduced innovative recycling incentives driven by the Digital Yuan. Under these initiatives, individuals will receive CBDC tokens as a reward for participating in recycling efforts.
As public sentiment for CBDCs is largely unfavourable – particularly in places like Nigeria – China, like many other countries to platform a CBDC, has a vested interest in programs that broaden circulation of these new tokens.
According to Danzong’s report via Xinhua, the Qingdao Branch of the Bank of Communications was where this rewards program was first unveiled.
This initiative was launched in collaboration with Jiaoyun Beijie, the municipal household waste disposal service provider in the city.
In the past, local government programs of a similar nature have offered citizens “points” as rewards for their engagement in recycling programs.
However, the novel Qingdao solution takes a different approach by granting citizens the nation’s digital currency as a form of recognition.
Whenever residents of the city correctly deposit items in recycling bins designated by the local government, the waste disposal company will automatically enter them into a lottery.
China isn’t the only country to provide monetary compensation for recycling. Not too long ago, Malta paid real EURs to people who correctly disposed of their nonperishables via large units dotted throughout the island. Malta did, however, run into abuse issues – with people loitering around the disposal units, finding every which way to make a buck.
If China’s new system sees similar abuse… well, their advantage his having complete control over each and every Digital Yuan in circulation, able to switch them on and off at will.