Cards are usually made of plastic

Vodka drinking has had such a huge impact on the people of Gorlovo that families often go without food, as the main wage earners spend all their money on drink.

But the community may have been saved from destruction by holding on to the Soviet-era collective system. Collaboratively, the residents produce and share enough goods to effectively, if not luxuriously, get by.

They have also developed an innovative response to the problem of alcoholism.

Innovative use of cardboard

Residents are largely paid for their work not in cash, but in a system of credit specially stamped into cardboard smart cards.

They can then use their smart cards to purchase food at the local store, along with other items like cigarettes and chewing gum.

It is a matter of children having something to eat or not.

Valentina Koneva, Gorlovo resident

One thing they cannot buy with these cards, though, is vodka.

"It is a matter of children having something to eat or not", said resident Valentina Koneva.

The cards have been particularly popular among the women who count on them for the nutritional well being of their families.

As the residents of Gorlovo have demonstrated, the success of technology depends largely on the surroundings in which it is used.

Digital debit cards may work as cash and passes for the London Underground, or to make phone calls from a booth throughout the world. But, in the places such as Gorlovo, cardboard smart cards hold their own as a technologically successful and innovative interface.