Singapore trying to boost aluminium packaging waste recycling, rolls out thirty-four new reverse vending machines

Thirty-four new reverse vending machines have been added to the existing network of sixteen at locations islandwide in Singapore. The new machines that accept plastic and aluminium containers and dispense discount vouchers in return have been rolled at malls like IMM and Vedok Mall and complexes like the Toa Payoh and Jalan Besar Sports Centres.

The new machines now give a wider range of reward choices to people who deposit receptacle plastic or aluminium cans. The rewards include free rides with bike-sharing firm Anywheel, CapitaLand malls vouchers, ActiveSG credit, and Sentosa Fun Pass tokens.

On depositing ten drink containers into new machines, one can get a 50 cent ActiveSG credit, while existing machines dispense a 20 cent Fairprice discount voucher for every 20 containers deposited.

Users can even choose not to receive any rewards when they recycle bottles and cans at the news machines, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) and drinks manufacturer Fraser & Neave (F&N) on Tuesday, June 30.

A Singapore Environment Council study in 2018 found the uses of about 467 million PET bottles in Singapore each year.

According to the NEA, more than 2.4 plastic bottles and aluminium cans have been collected since the launch of the reverse vending machines in Singapore last October.

The primary purpose of the deposit refund scheme is to make product manufacturers responsible for the end-of-life collection and treatment of the items. It mainly targets the management of electronic and packaging waste.

Packaging waste is something that Singapore is trying hard to tackle due to its high generation and low recycling rate.

In 2019, only 37,000 tonnes or 4 per cent of 930,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste were recycled.  The target is to reduce the amount of waste per capita by 30 per cent by the year 2030.