New Vending Machines In Sydney Give Out Bus Tickets and Food Vouchers For Recycling Bottles

The city of Sydney has installed reverse vending machines which take in recyclable rubbish and give out rewards for the recyclers.

The machines can hold and crush up to 3000 cans and plastic bottles before the need to be emptied.  After the limit is reached, the machines send out an automatic mail to the nearby store. The owner of the store then sends the items off for recycling. However, the machine warns not to put in glass or containers full of liquid.
As reward for recycling, the recyclers can get bus tickets, two-for-one food vouchers or a 10 cent donation to Clean Up Project. They can also go in a draw to win 2 tickets to the 2014 Sydney New Year’s Eve Dawes Point event.

An official statement from the city said that 15,000 bottles and cans are littered or thrown into landfill every minute across Australia. This makes 42 percent of the total rubbish. Only 42 percent of these are recycled. The idea is to encourage more and more people to recycle cans. The reverse vending machines are a part of a bigger project of Australia called Clean Up Australia. The authorities hope that with this project thousands of bottles that would otherwise be thrown into bins, would find their way to recycling plants. Even before the official launch, the machines received more than 10,000 items.

Launch of Reverse Vending Machines in Sydney

The City initially tried the machines at public areas but the contamination made it almost impossible to recycle the collected items. The City said No to burger wrappers and has now installed three units at selected locations.
The reverse vending machines are a great initiative for Australia. We hope to see more of them around the world for a greener future of the planet.