At the end of June this year, the City of Sydney installed two reverse vending machines in Sydney’s CBD, to encourage recycling and help keep the city and harbour free from discarded plastic bottles and aluminium cans.
The recycling machines, one at Circular Quay and the other at Haymarket, offer small rewards in return for empty drink containers.
The vending machines have collected 40,000 cans and bottles for recycling since July. That is enough to build a tower 19 times the height of Sydney’s Centrepoint Tower.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore commented, “It’s terrific that Sydneysiders have embraced the idea and that small rewards are encouraging people to do the right thing.
“That’s 40,000 containers that can now be recycled, turning rubbish into a resource and keeping our streets and waterways clean and beautiful. It’s heartening to note that one in five people who recycled a drink container chose a donation to charity as their reward.”
The machines became a powerful awareness campaign when the news spread in both traditional and social media. On Facebook and Twitter, Sydneysiders and tourists shared the thrill of exchanging empty containers for food truck vouchers, a chance to win tickets to the Sydney NYE event at Dawes Point, or a donation to charity.
Clean Up Australia figures show beverage containers account for over one third of all reported rubbish in NSW. The City is calling for the introduction of a national container deposit scheme as a long-term, sustainable solution to the problem.
The trial will continue for another nine months, when the City will look at the results and consider installing the machines permanently in littering hotspots.
As well as the reverse vending machine trial, the City is implementing a range of innovative recycling initiatives, including recycling stations for batteries, light bulbs and mobile phones at libraries and service centres.
The draw for the winner of the New Year’s Eve entry prize will take place on 5 December. A new range of rewards will be launching for summer.
