1. Change the text given below from the Present Simple Tense into the Past Simple Tense. (Измените приведенный ниже текст с настоящего простого времени на простое время.) For many people, recycling is a tiresome process. You have to separate the trash, have several different bags, take each one to a container in several trips… How easy it is not to separate anything! How easy it was in the old days when everything went into a black bag and that was it. But in spite of these difficulties, and thanks to awareness campaigns, in Spain a notable 76% of plastic, tins, cartons, paper and cardboard containers are recycled. But there’s still a quarter of the country that doesn’t take part in the recycling programme.
In Amsterdam, for example, the government finds a way to encourage recycling that’s as ancient as it is effective: the economic stimulus.
Wasted is the company that manages this service. The idea is very interesting and it goes from a very simple concept: giving virtual money and discounts in exchange for recycling. First, users can register on the website, and they then receive a kid with 12 trash bags. When they fill the first one – whether with plastic, paper or textiles – they take it to the regular container, scan its QR code and upload a photo of the bag to send to the company through an application. For each bag, the user receives a virtual coin, green in colour, that he can exchange services or goods in the northern and eastern parts of Amsterdam. Each service or article costs a certain amount of coins.
Among the 150 different things that can be acquired are a yoga class, a second soft drink, a 10% discount in a café, a workshop about how to make the perfect cup of coffee, a copy of a key… It’s more like a coupon for extra services than a coin like the euro.
The project grows slowly but surely.
What do you think about this programme? Do you like it?