Costa Rica has still a long road ahead when it comes to recycling practices, and a new digital platform hopes to help change this reality by offering “virtual money” that can be exchanged for discounts on products, services and experiences

The way it works is simple, every time a user recycles they receive “virtual money” or credits, as they accumulate these credits they can opt for discounts in different products and services offered by participating companies.

Users can create an account through www.ecolonescr.com, the platform will provide a list of 30 recycling centers that are part of the project, users must take their clean and classified recycling materials to one of these centers, the ewallet will then show how many ecolones have been accumulated.

Once you have accumulated enough ecolones you can use them to buy products whether online (in the case of companies that offer this option) or directly at the point of sale where the user must show their “EcoID”.

Participating companies include: Florex (eco-friendly house cleaning products), Casa Armonía (offers products that replace single-use plastic), Fischel Pharmacies, Musmanni and Magaly Movie Theater, to name a few.

One ecolón is equivalent to one Costa Rican colon, a plastic bottle represents 4 ‘ecolones’, an aluminum can is equivalent to 5 ‘ecolones’.

“We are offering an effective way to promote a green economy in Costa Rica through an incentive system that encourages recycling and the change of consumption habits in people”, explained Karla Chaves, director of ‘ecolones’.

“Ecolones is a very valuable and innovative tool, the result of a public and private alliance. We believe that ecolones will allow us to reach the goals of residue recovery established in the National Recycling Strategy, but it will also contribute with the recycling centers that should see a raise in the number of materials that they will receive, as well as for participating companies”, explained Maria Esther Anchia Vice-minister of Health.