Empty bottles to get into the toilet? What if I can't hold back? The initiator of the public welfare project responded

China News Network, April 4 (Zhongxin Finance Wu Jiaju) "If you want to go to the bathroom, you must pick up an empty mineral water bottle, you can't go on without an empty water bottle, people have three anxieties, I feel that this is too inhumane." On April 10, a video of tourists complaining about the "green coin toilet" on the Zheduo Mountain in Kardze Prefecture, Sichuan Province, attracted attention on social media. Related topic "tourists complain that a public toilet in Ganzi needs to enter through empty bottles" once appeared on Weibo's hot search.

What is the "Green Coin Toilet"? How is it different from a regular public toilet? If you don't have an empty water bottle, you can't go to the "green coin toilet" to go to the toilet? Yang Xin, the initiator of the project and president of the Sichuan Green River Environmental Protection Promotion Association, was interviewed by Zhongxin Finance and responded to these questions.

"Green Coin Toilet". The picture is from the "Green River NGO" Weibo

What should I do if I need to throw a bottle when I go to the toilet and can't hold it?

The "Green Coin Toilet", which has been discussed on the Internet, is actually part of the Sichuan-Tibet Green Station Zheduoshan Station, which belongs to an environmental protection project called "Green Coin 318" (318 refers to National Highway 318).

In November 2022, Sichuan-Tibet Green Station Zheduoshan Yi and Litang Yi were completed and put into trial operation. As long as tourists put garbage in the smart trash can here, they can scan the code on their mobile phone to exchange green coins, and then pay green coins, and they can go to the toilet and park for free at the "Green Coin 11" Sichuan-Tibet Green Station.

Although the original intention of the project is environmental protection, whether its setting is humane has caused discussion among netizens.

Some netizens believe that there are already public toilets nearby, and the "green coin toilet" does not need to be adjusted. Some netizens believe that people have "three hurries" and "green coin toilets" should also allow paid toilets. Some netizens also asked, if you are really anxious to go to the toilet and there is no empty bottle, can you go to the "green coin toilet" to go to the toilet?

Yang Xin said that the post station has made relevant regulations on the use of toilets:

First, there are more than 5 tourists who exchange garbage for green coins, and they directly put down the garbage to go to the toilet.

"Once there are more than 5 people in line, there is no need to throw it in the garbage can, we just take a garbage bag and tourists throw it inside. Tourists can go directly to the toilet after throwing it, or they can directly scan the QR code in the hands of volunteers, no need to sort garbage, and when this wave of people leaves, we will sort and then throw it into the garbage can. ”

Second, there are too many tourists who go to the toilet, so they will queue up directly to go to the toilet without exchanging garbage for green coins.

"Sometimes there may be too many people, such as May Day, we don't want green coins, just line up to go to the toilet, and then throw in garbage after going on."

Third, you can go to the toilet without garbage, just pick up a garbage for green coins at a convenient time.

"Of course, there is also the possibility of internal urgency but no garbage, in this case, just go and get a garbage after going up, or pick up a garbage next to it and hand it back." It doesn't really matter if you can't hand it back or not, our purpose is to show everyone that each garbage reflects a responsibility, not how much these bottles are worth. ”

At the same time, he said that the places built by the "Green Coin Toilet" basically have toilets, which actually increases the number of toilets, so it is called "Green Coin Experience Toilet", and tourists can experience.

Fold the mountain station. The picture is from the "Green River" public account

Why build a "green coin toilet"?

Zhongxin Finance learned that in recent years, the littering behavior of some tourists on National Highway 318 has been plaguing the local government. Earlier, Liu Hong, director of the Ganzi Cultural Tourism Bureau, also released a video on the Douyin platform, calling on tourists to "make taking away garbage at will become a standard action in tourism".

Sichuan-Tibet Green Station is not the first batch of green stations that "Green River" has participated in the construction. Previously, Green Rivers had built six green stations on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and when it was put into operation for nearly six years (as of August last year), it took away 6,6 pieces of garbage.

"Any garbage is fine, bottles, cigarettes, plastic bags. However, aluminum cans, iron cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles should be put into different garbage cans separately. At the same time, our trash can is smart, if you cast the wrong one, it will 'spit out' the bottle and let the tourists recast it. Yang Xin introduced.

"For example, if there are 15000,<> tourists in a small place, a lot of garbage will be discarded, and someone will not be able to pick it up. How to make tourists take responsibility and reduce garbage at the same time is the original intention of our website. We hope that the "green coin" method can realize the concept of 'free without exemption'. Yang Xin said.

Yang Xin said that many tourists find this thing very fresh. Especially tourists with children can let children understand environmental protection and participate in garbage sorting. Of course, there are also tourists who have opinions about this model. "We also need to improve."

Tourists drop off their trash in front of smart bins. The picture is from the "Green River" public account

"Green Coin Toilet" volunteers are strictly selected

"Why are there so many bottles here? It's because the cost of recycling is so high that no one wants to pick it up. ”

Yang Xin believes that environmental protection requires you and me to raise our hands. Because it is conducive to protecting the environment, the Sichuan-Tibet Green Station project has received strong support from the government. At the same time, the floor, wall panels, solar energy, etc. of the post station are also donated by enterprises.

Volunteers who maintain order at the "Green Coin Toilet" are strictly selected and need to pay their own travel expenses. "We provide food and lodging during the volunteer service, all volunteers need to live in the station, each meal is a dish and a soup for three meals a day, and they will also be given high insurance."

Yang Xin told Zhongxin Finance that many of these volunteers are young people from the post-90s and post-00s, including many doctors and masters.

He said he hopes to extend this model to more rural roads in the future. In the future, if the local people can be mobilized to participate in the green station, it can actually drain the countryside. It doesn't cost money to go to the toilet, but ordinary people can sell local products nearby, which is also a promotion for rural tourism.

According to previous news, the Sichuan-Tibet Green Station Project plans to build 318 stations in the Ganzi section of National Highway 12. In addition to the Zheduoshan Yi and Litang Yi that have been put into operation, the service area of Erlangshan Tunnel Entrance, Scissors Bend Mountain Observation Deck and Batang Shuimogou Village Service Area have also become the proposed sites of the first phase of the project.

"From my heart, I also want to build another 100 green stations in Ganzi. I want to go from the trunk highway, build to the branch road, and finally go into the countryside, so that tourists can see the green post station and know that they can travel with green coins. It's always been a dream. Yang Xin said. (End)