The machines, which are designed to take in drinks cans and plastic bottles, are aimed at boosting efforts to increase recycling on-the-go and have been trialled at Brunel University in West London and are now being displayed at the Sustainable Business show (part of Sustainabilitylive!) at the NEC, 22-24 May.
Greenredeem is part of the recycling and waste management company Grundon which sees the reverse vending and incentivisation programme as a new side to its more traditional activities.
Footfalls
The company is targeting use of the machines in locations with high footfall such as shopping centres, theme parks, universities and office complexes, explained Greenredeem business development manager, Matthew Ball.
Mr Ball said: We believed there is a market for reverse vending machines as part of the move to capture bottles and cans thrown away on the go. We carried out research and as a result have decided to use a reverse vending machine produced in the United States.
He continued: Greenredeem incentivises behaviour change by making recycling as interactive and engaging as possible, and by providing participants with the opportunity to earn rewards. In return for registering, users are provided with a bar coded membership card enabling quick and easy access to the kiosks. Points are awarded for every qualifying container recycled, and credited to the users online account. By visiting www.greenredeem.co.uk users can check their points balance and redeem points against the rewards catalogue.
Vouchers
One of the advantages of the machine, explained Mr Ball, is that while it has a computer system for scanning loyalty cards and issuing vouchers, the cans and bottles simply fall into one of two large bins inside the machine, and users can also deposit cans and bottles without registering or swiping their loyalty card.
By not compacting material, this helps to increase reliability of the machine and keeps maintenance costs down, he said. It also means that the bins are easy to empty and we can tell the site when they are full through a remote monitoring system or they can be easily checked on-site.
Marketing manager, Kevin Brewer, said: In a nutshell we will be offering companies and organisations with strong CSR and sustainability agendas the opportunity to sponsor an engaging and interactive scheme for the recycling of drinks cans & bottles. The scheme uses reverse-vending kiosks linked to a web based membership and reward scheme.
The companys research has found that there is a need to make sure recycling facilities for on the go are clearly visible. We believe this visual, engaging and interactive, said Mr Brewer. While we expected the kiosks to be used by committed recyclers, we are targeting the audience which is going to put recycling in the general waste bin.
Related links
One of thebenefits for companies sponsoring the bins there are five advertising panels on each kiosk is, said Mr Ball, that they will be able to gain insights into customer habits. We will know what is being recycled and with the scheme also we will know who is recycling, so this can be of value. As they put the bottle or can in the type will be scanned and recorded.
Capacity of the kiosk is about 380 cans and 280 bottles.
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