Thailand gains first AI-loaded reverse vending machine accepting bottles and aluminium cans

Thailand has received its first AI-enabled reverse vending machine (RVM), ‘Circu-larOne’ from SUSTAINTECH, n eco-friendly tech start-up. This vending machine has been developed by Thai people and is controlled by the cloud business of global technology company Tencent. The RVM accepts PET or glass bottles and aluminium cans.

The cloud codding by Tencent is responsible for CircularOne’s perfect operations, including accepting, sorting and preparing the bottles or aluminium cans for recycling. This technology will help induce a circular economy where used products can be returned via a portal for complete restoration.

The Founder and CEO of SUSTAINTECH, Chirawat Tangkitchaiwat, quoted: “The world today is facing an air and natural resource crisis, a result of manufacturing, consuming and managing misbehaviours that subsequently lead to increased pollution and greenhouse gas. According to data from the World Bank Group, Thailand ranked sixth among countries responsible for plastic leakage into marine environments. The country only recycled 616,000 tons — an equivalent to only 17.6 per cent — of the 3.49 million tons of plastics it consumes yearly. With that being said, it is paramount to create a Circular Economy system to alleviate waste management issues, improve people’s quality of life and help with the global warming crisis. Consequently, the company has developed CircularOne to sort beverage containers in order to reduce the volume of containers to be recreated and promote reuse. CircularOne is also SUSTAINTECH in Thailand.”

SUSTAINTECH can be deemed to be one of the first companies to have come up with such an innovative solution for container storage and sorting facilities. The machine has an in-built container for sorting and quality checking purposes. The Cloud-AI system from Tencent that is incorporated within the CircularOne machine helps it with the decision-making process.

SUSTAINTECH’s CircularOne is also the leader in promoting a circular economy among all consumers ranging from beverage or container businesses to real estate or garbage collectors. This will also help create a sustainable future for the upcoming generation since products, once returned to the machines, can be retrieved again in their original form, encouraging rotational behaviour.

The Chief Operating Officer of Tencent (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Mr Chang Foo, commented: “Tencent Cloud is pleased to be part of an effort to improve the management and return of waste into the system through the recycling process. Tencent Cloud’s solutions work together to categorise used bottles and enhance the operation and precision of CircularOne. Apart from sorting used contain-ers, such solutions can also detect and eject broken or damaged glass bottles and send notifications which consume less time and make the sorting process more effective.”

“The collaboration is a significant milestone that reflects Tencent Cloud’s determination to support Thai businesses of all sizes from various industries through over 400 diversified cloud solutions that respond to different needs. By combining our extensive industry expertise with our infrastructure strength, which includes two data centres in Thailand, the company will continue to develop solutions in response to various stakeholder requirements and become a driving force in making the circular economy principle a reality,” Chang Foo concluded.