Residents and companies have been testing a pilot project to reduce the amount of garbage produced in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, as the city tries to tackle its garbage crisis.

The new system requires local residents to pay extra if they dump more garbage, but to pay less for less rubbish, according to Bao Lunjun, chief engineer of the Guangzhou administrative committee of urban management.

Bao said that Guangzhou, which has a population of more than 16 million people, plans to be able to deal with more than 15,000 metric tons of garbage a day by 2015 to help solve its garbage problem. The city can now only process about 12,000 tons of garbage per day, which is not enough.