AoBag: an innovative recycling program in China

Published on February 15, 2022

AoBag aims to improve recycling in China by providing a comprehensive services to citizens, both online through social media and offline with recycling bags and community drop off points for recycling.

AoBag is a social enterprise that aims to improve recycling in China by providing a series of services to citizens, both online through social media and offline with recycling bags and community drop off points for recycling. In China, most cities have yet to establish comprehensive solid waste recycling programs; further, even among cities with recycling programs, many types of post-consumer waste are not collected.

AoBag was founded in Chengdu in 2017, and it currently has hundreds of different collection points throughout China. Residents can purchase recycling bags with QR code to collect their recyclables that fall under fourteen designated categories: aluminium, metal, glass, cardboard, books and newspaper, tetrapak, plastics (PET, PE, Styrofoam, hard plastic, plastic bags), electronics and fabrics. The bags can be dropped off at any AoBag station anytime, and through a WeChat mini application, residents can get reimbursed based on the weight and content of their recyclables (the collection point is powered by IoT technology that performs real time monitoring of the recyclables).

The initiative reports that AoBag has recruited more than 200 partner organisations and over 30,000 users who have recycled more than 440,000 kg of waste.