The trial, which runs throughout September, is being delivered in partnership with environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP).
Students across New College Lanarkshire’s Motherwell, Coatbridge and Cumbernauld campuses will receive a 20p reward for every can and plastic bottle deposited into the RVMs, with the incentive redeemable at campus canteens.
The study is designed to assess how a personal financial reward influences recycling behaviour among young people, with the expectation that it will increase the volume of bottles and cans collected.
Alongside the RVM initiative, three student households will document their experiences of living with a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) over a two-week period, offering further insights into day-to-day interactions with the system.
Barry Fisher, Chief Executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We’re really looking forward to the launch of this exciting new study and hope to see a significant increase in the use of Reverse Vending Machines on the college campuses.”
New College Lanarkshire Deputy Principal Ronnie Gilmour added: “We are delighted to be a partner on this initiative. We know that living in a clean and sustainable environment is very important to our students.
“I’m sure the data gathered through the scheme will make an important contribution to understanding behaviour around recycling.”
Building on Strathclyde RVM trial
The Lanarkshire project follows on from a campaign at the University of Strathclyde, which was also run by Keep Scotland Beautiful and CCEP.
The initiative gathered behavioural insights from more than 200 students, testing a range of interventions and messaging to understand motivations for recycling and waste disposal choices.
Findings from the Strathclyde study showed that around half of students believed a financial incentive would encourage them to recycle more.
Jo Padwick, Senior Sustainability Manager at Coca Cola Europacific Partners GB, commented: “Giving students the chance to live with a Deposit Return Scheme – something that will soon be a part of everyday life – will allow us to see first-hand how people interact with RVMs in reality.
“This kind of collaboration is key to ensuring the eventual rollout of DRS is as smooth and effective as possible.”
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