When provided with an incentive to recycle, Scottish university students started doing so at a remarkable rate.
That good news came out of a trial at three campuses of New College Lanarkshire. As Circular reported, the program — a partnership of the college, Keep Scotland Beautiful, and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners — reverse vending machines were installed at each campus to collect single-use drink containers for recycling.
Students were charged a small deposit fee when buying a bottled or canned beverage. That deposit was returned when the bottle or can was returned to one of the reverse vending machines.
During the trial, 20,177 bottles and cans were recycled. The previous year, only 255 drink containers were recycled during the same time frame, meaning this trial increased the recycling rate by over 7,900%. Once the trial ended, recycling rates fell back down by 91%.
The test showed the type of impact that can be made on recycling by introducing deposits and providing simple ways to recycle, such as reverse vending machines. And that data is promising, as the United Kingdom will introduce a nationwide redeemable deposit on certain drink containers in 2027.
"With two years until we see a U.K.-wide [deposit return scheme], it's vital that the public are aware of its introduction to ensure it is a success from the start," Keep Scotland Beautiful CEO Barry Fisher said.
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Reverse vending machines, which accept used beverage containers for recycling, have proved to be successful in many parts of the world and have occasionally become viral sensations. One Australian man even earned enough money from these machines to make the downpayment on a house.
As the world's largest beverage company, Coca-Cola's involvement is also key. The company has the ability to drive public action and other businesses toward more sustainable practices, but it has a mixed history in doing so.
On one hand, Coca-Cola has introduced new packaging designs that use less plastic and more recyclable materials. But even with that, the company still sells more than 100 billion single-use plastic bottles each year and has been repeatedly named the world's worst plastic polluter.
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