It's been one year since the first "waste bank" opened in Nuanshui village in East China's Jiangxi province and the locals can already see the difference.

The once countless plastic bags that were scattered all over the village in Longtoushan township are now nowhere to be found.

"We used to go out every day to collect trash, but now the villagers voluntarily bring it to the bank," said Dong Weiwei, the township's environmental sanitation official and the head of the bank, where villagers can exchange garbage for rewards.