A Chinese city is offering to buy dead flies from residents to promote public hygiene.

Officials in the Xigong district of Luoyang city are offering the equivalent of 3p for each dead fly, reports Henan Business News. "We think giving people money will be more effective than fining them to keep the city clean," says Hu Guisheng, administrative director of Xigong district.

Hu says that in only one day, his office has collected more than 2,000 dead flies in six communities, and paid out more than £65.Local residents have embraced the scheme with some even travelling to rubbish dumps to find more flies.But critics argue the government should be cleaning up places where flies breed, instead of offering bounties for insect corpses.

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Xigong Council sold the flies on for a profit.

The original was here.