Rome, London - Asharq Al-Awsat

Commuters who use public transport in Rome can now exchange their used plastic bottles with metro or bus tickets.

People can simply insert a plastic bottle in the machine to receive the ticket on their smartphones through an app.

The "+Ricicli +Viaggi" (recycle and travel) program offers five cents for each bottle.

Commuters were lining up in front of the machines, which debuted in three metro stations only.

One month after launching the program, 100,000 bottles were disposed, the German news agency reported.

Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi said her city is the first European capital to install such machines. Many other European cities have adopted local plans to recycle plastic wastes, but this program is only available in Italy.

Rome faces chronic challenges with waste disposal, and garbage containers are overflowing on daily basis.

The public transport is also a problem in the city, as the underground network has only three lines, and the buses are outdated and poorly maintained. But the ticket prices are cheap and the cost of the trip is only 1.50 euros.