Give, change and by (GCB)

Machines where you put bottles and instead of giving you money, they give you coupons to buy at stores that sell recycled plastic products.

Every second 200 kg of plastic are thrown into the sea. In Spain, 126 tons of plastic are thrown away every day. Slightly less than half of the waste generated is recycled and, even so, a large amount ends up in the sea. An alternative that was raised were the machines that pay you for each recycled plastic bottle. In Spain there are only 60 of these machines, all of them located in large cities, being inaccessible to a large part of the population. In Spain, 3.6 billion plastic bottles are consumed, which take 500 years to disintegrate. during this time the marine animals confuse them with comifa ending up suffocated. It is estimated that around 100,000 marine animals die each year due to this problem.
There are many problems, not just this one:
Skin problems. There are certain chemical compounds in plastic that can be absorbed by our skin, which is quite dangerous and often triggers skin problems.
Consumption of plastics in food. The fact that they are present in seas and oceans means that they are consumed by many marine species that later end up on our plates.
Degradation of the marine ecosystem. Due to both its visual impact and the pollution it generates, it is being a serious problem for maintaining biodiversity in particular and life in general in these environments.
Garbage island formation. There are already some of them in the Pacific and it seems that due to the accelerated manufacturing of containers, wrappers, bags and other plastic products, they will not be the only ones.

My solution is to place machines, available to a large part of the population, in which you insert plastic bottles and instead of giving you money, it gives you points. These points are exchangeable in stores which are in charge of the machines. these points are discounts or free products depending on the amount of pastic you have made. All products sold are eco-friendly and if plastic is used, it is recycled. The money raised in the stores will be used to create more stores and machines, making it accessible to the entire population, awareness campaigns, and ocean cleanup.

Jobs would be created for people in a disadvantaged situation both to make the products that will be sold. The lives of many people will be improved by reducing climate change and removing plastic from their diets. not to mention the number of animals that will be saved.

I have been teaching biology for 4 years with the same professor who always emphasized the importance of recycling, this created curiosity in me towards the subject and I began to watch documentaries and read articles about contamination, its consequences and how to contribute my grain of sand to the cause. I knew that I wanted to leave a mark on the world and be remembered for something good. When I found this challenge I thought it would be my opportunity. I began to think until this idea arrived and I began to learn more about the problem.

Talking with family, friends and teachers about what they know about ir, what they think is the solution and what they think about my solution.