Dive Brief:
- In an effort to promote plastics recycling in Beijing and to reduce the amount of trash littering the streets, a company has created a reverse vending machine that accepts used plastic beverage containers.
- Consumers insert an empty plastic bottle into the kiosk. The machine then uses an electronic sensor to create a value for the item and the bottle is compacted and a reward is issued from the machine.
- Each bottle is worth between five and 15 cents, and is given to consumers in the form of a public transportation credit or additional cell phone minutes.
Dive Insight:
Incom, the company behind the unique rewards machine, placed over 400 machines around Beijing. Many are installed at strategic areas such as bus stops, subway lines, learning institutions, and shopping centers.
15,000 tons of plastic bottles are recycled annually in Beijing.The recycling kiosks are expected to create a substantial increase in the volume of plastic bottles collected in the city. Estimates pegged China’s recycling industry at $103 billion in 2013, down from 2012 levels when it totaled $107.5 billion.
Innovative vending machines are popping up around the globe. In July, a company based in Turkey devised a vending machine that essentially exchanged recyclables for pet food and water.
