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The Spanish town with an ingenious new way to make people pick up their rubbish: Pay them to recycle!
A pilot project in the Navarra town of Sangüesa is giving locals 10 cents for every can or bottle they recycle, to be spent in local shops
As anyone who has ever been to Spain will know, litter on the floor is an unsightly problem in many Spanish towns... except in one. A small town in northern Spain is leading a national trial of a bottle and can return scheme that’s seen locals of all ages racing to cash in and clean up.Since June 1, 2025, two reverse vending machines installed in the tiny town of Sangüesa, Navarra (population 5,000), have been trialling Spain’s upcoming deposit return system for plastic bottles and cans.
For every item fed into the machine, users get a 10-cent voucher they can redeem in local shops. It’s part of a nationwide move to bring back a system similar to how glass bottles were once returned for cash decades ago.
Local resident Laura is already a regular. She recently turned up with two full bags of empties. “I’ve come three times now. I collect them,” she said. After dropping in 28 cans and six plastic bottles, she walked away with a coupon worth €3.40, which she can use in any of the 10 participating stores. Two girls ahead of her had earned €7 doing the same.
The machines – one in the town centre and one at a local supermarket – are proving popular, especially with kids, who initially clambered into bins to find as many items as they could. Adults weren’t so amused and called in the local authorities to raise safety concerns. Since then, the scheme has calmed down and is running smoothly.
How does it work?
Customers pay an extra 10 cents at the checkout on certain drinks containers, including plastic bottles, cans, juices and fizzy drinks, and get it back when they return the empty to one of the machines. It doesn’t replace Spain’s existing yellow recycling bins, but adds a financial incentive to improve recycling rates.So far, the response has been encouraging. From June 1 to July 20, over 104,000 cans and bottles were sold, and nearly 78,000 of them were returned, a return rate of almost 85%. And shops have also seen sales rise by an average of 3.5%, thanks in part to people using their discount vouchers.
Navarra’s regional environment chief, Ana Bretaña, called the results “spectacular” and praised the “exemplary behaviour” of residents.
The scheme is expected to roll out across Spain in the next few years, although the national deadline of November 2026 is likely to slip. Under Spain’s 2022 Waste Law, all shops will eventually be obliged to take part, although smaller shops may be exempt. Each one will have to offer returns, either by machine or in person, and will receive a small payment, currently two cents per returned container, to compensate for the extra effort.
Not everyone is convinced. Pili, another local, said she was already recycling and wasn’t thrilled about paying more upfront. “If I don’t return it, I don’t get it back,” she said, adding that she still prefers to use the yellow bins.
Still, with EU targets looming, 90% of plastics must be recycled by 2029, Spain is hoping this kind of “deposit-for-action” system will boost recycling figures, which currently lag behind at just over 40 percent.
For now, Sangüesa’s trial will continue until August 31, with one more month added to let residents spend any leftover vouchers. And if the first few weeks are anything to go by, locals seem happy to swap empties for extra euros!
Images: Ayuntamiento Sangüesa/Facebook
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