BEIJING—Most mobile-phone users in China, the world’s biggest cellular market, use prepaid phone cards. Three million end up in landfills each month.
Professor Gu Mingyuan of the Material Science & Engineering Department of Shanghai’s Jiaotong University told the Shanghai Daily newspaper the plastic cards take more than 100 years to degrade, posing a serious environmental threat.
Point of sales (POS) terminals linked to a database of personal identification numbers (PINs) are now being installed in 24-hour convenience stores in Shanghai. The terminals are able to print out prepaid paper slips.
The system is jointly set up by Shanghai Mobile, Shanghai Harvest Network Technology and convenience chain stores.
