A community in Shizuishan city, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has launched a program called Green Account to advocate for voluntary green activities.

Residents hand in discarded items including waste batteries, empty bottles and useless cellphones to the community, which would recycle the waste items and in turn add credits to residents' virtual accounts. Locals can exchange the credits for small bonsais and daily necessities.

To date, 658 households with 1,800 residents have opened a green account, while 14,500 credits have been converted into 1,280 different necessities, according to Wu Xuemei, deputy director of the community.

On Saturday morning, Wang Guizhen brought some paper boxes and waste bottles to the community to exchange for five credits, bringing her total amount of credits in the green account up to eight.

"The officials of the community helped me a lot as my mom was sick in bed. The dish-washing liquid I received in exchange for the credits is very useful," the 63-year-old said.

According to Wu,the community also organized a flea market for residents to exchange useful discarded items and promote a green lifestyle.