Beijing already has machines at its train/metro stations where people can 'feed-in' plastic bottles as payment for their travel tickets. I think this is a 'win-win' scenario - people get cheaper fares, and are rewarded for their recycling. The council benefits from not having as much 'landfill' to deal with, and the rail company could profit from the sale of the recyclable bottles. All of which leads to less landfill and less litter.
Manchester has always been an industrious city, this seems to me a great place to start this enterprise which will cut costs for the local commuters and give them a better environment.
for more information,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9FbFNndJ88
and
http://www.treehugger.com/culture/pay-your-subway-ride-beijing-recycling-plastic-bottle.html