The City of Sydney has recently introduced a small fleet of ‘reverse vending machines’ which devours containers or cans. The authorities are hoping that these will encourage an increasing number of people to consciously take a step towards preserving the environment by helping to recycle cans and bottles. These bottles would otherwise be thrown in the rubbish and eventually end up clogging the landfills.
Such machines have already been introduced in introduced in Europe and the ones Sydney have already gained much popularity for offering consumers “two-for-one food truck vouchers”. Other offers are also there like make a 10 cent donation to charity or enter a draw for a prime seat on the Harbour for New Year’s Eve celebrations. The machines have been supplied by Envirobank, a company that excels in litter management for high traffic areas.
These machines can contain up to 2000 containers at a time. These technologically advanced devices are the latest public push by Lord Mayor Clover Moore in a strive to implement get a national container deposit scheme. Such a system is now operating in South Australia and is doing a commendable job in disposing wastes in the cities there.
The path to launching these machines have not been easy. Beverage companies have opposed this measure for years and for just as long, local governments have been pushing for a deposit-based scheme. This scheme aims at reducing the cost of packaging disposal and recycling. At the same time it also encourages customers to keep containers out of landfill and enjoy deposit refunds.
It becomes evident that these reverse vending machines will collectively do very little in helping the situation when another fact is taken into account – there are mountains of cans from this city that are shipped of for recycling every single year. Still the CBD council remains optimistic about these machines creating a huge impact on consumer psychology regarding waste management.
The City said that approximately “15,000 bottles and cans are littered or thrown into landfill every minute across Australia.” Ms Moore opines that “only about 42 per cent of bottles and cans are recycled annually in NSW” and that the City was working hard to lift recycling rates through “a range of new initiatives.”
Even though there have been certain warnings that improper recycling measures can lead to some undesirable consequences, the overall approach of the city towards these machines is positive.