Residents in Thailand can swap their plastic for plants with a new recycling scheme to encourage them to separate the items.

Locals have been carrying their old bottles, cardboard boxes and drinks can to the center in Bangkok, which is the first of its kind in the country.

Once they have weighed in the items, they can choose a plant-based on the value of their goods. 

Footage shows how the delighted locals are able to leave with beautiful greenery for their homes or gardens while helping the planet by recycling.

The Thai government came up with an idea to save time in the initial stage of the recycling process because many residents don't separate their recyclable items. But with the scheme, they have to arrive with the correct types of recyclable items grouped together.

The Nong Chok district government office is trialing the initiative with hopes it could be rolled out to other regions.

District principal Wutthipat Khamprakob said they wanted the event to build cooperation between the authority and the locals on handling plastic pollution and waste.

He said: "The amount of plastic waste is increasing and we want to reduce it, but it was not easy to encourage residents to participate in sorting their garbage.

"This program is to help to ease the hard process of sorting the garbage by letting the locals bring their waste to exchange plants. Then as it has already been sorted, once we received the waste it is ready to be recycled.

"Reducing the process would be beneficial for us to handle the overloaded wasted in the city and turned them into good use without spending time sorting them after we gathered the garbage from houses."