Workers fix an installation art work named "Phoenix" by Chinese artist Xu Bin in Beijing on March 23. The 28-m-long art work, built using various waste metal materials, was scheduled to debut on March 27 before it is exhibited at the Shanghai World Expo in May. Liu Jin / AFP

Beijing plans to involve 300 community rubbish recycling stations in a "Renewable Resource Recycling Day" this year, to encourage people to recycle rubbish near their homes.

The "3R Day" was introduced last August, when the campaign, which falls on the last Saturday of each month, commenced in the eight urban districts. However, starting from March, another 10 suburban districts are also participating.

"The number of community garbage recycling stations has grown from 18 last August, to 220 now, but it will continue to rise," said Li Weiwei, vice-director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce.

"In the previous seven 3R Day's, the recycling stations collected around 400 tons of renewable resources," he added.

In 2009, Beijing recycled around four million tons of renewable resources, a 4 percent increase on 2008.

The recycling stations are operated by formal recycling enterprises, and people have three ways of handing over their trash - go directly to a station, call station workers to take rubbish from their homes, or place an order on the Internet.

"Currently, every district has a recycling company. Chaoyang, Fengtai, Tongzhou and Changping have two enterprises, while other districts each have one," Liu Fuqiang, secretary general of Beijing Renewable Resource and Secondhand Goods Association, told METRO.

There are four kinds of renewable resources that can be recovered by the stations - paper, plastic and glass, scrap metal and electronic appliances.

"If people sell rubbish in these stations, they can ask for a points card. The points can then be redeemed for little gifts such as soap, toothpaste or washing powder. For example, 5 yuan's rubbish equals one point, and 20 points earn you a cake of soap," Liu explained.

The points card is new to Beijing, said Liu, who believes it will raise people's enthusiasm for recycling rubbish.

Liu Xinmin, general manager of the recycling company Beijing Juduoyuan, one of the two companies that run stations in Changping district, said the points cards would also help his firm to attract more clients from irregular recyclers.

"The points card tells people that we are always here, aiming at a long-term business, and we offer more benefits than rubbish peddlers," Liu said.

The company also has a price advantage over other irregular recyclers, Liu explained, "because we offer a 20 percent higher recycling price compared to them".

Cheng Surong, 61, a resident in Changping's Longtengyuan community, sold 8.12 yuan of rubbish in Beijing's Eighth Renewable Resource Recycling Day on March 27, and said she welcomed the initiative and the introduction of the points card.

"I used to wait for rubbish peddlers. If they didn't come, I threw away my drink cans or newspapers, which was a great waste of the resource. Now I can go to the recycling station. The workers are there all day along and can teach me how to categorize rubbish," Cheng said.

According to the local government, the city's 17 million people generate 18,000 tons of waste a day - 5,300 tons more than the capacity of the disposal plants.