Firm behind reverse vending machines to boost presence here

A Swedish maker of vending machines that accept used bottles and cans is planning to set up a base in Singapore by the third quarter of this year to support the nation's upcoming return scheme for beverage containers.

The company, RVM Systems, plans to install a range of its reverse vending machines.

It already has about 50 such machines here, rolled out by the National Environment Agency and F&N Foods since 2019. Those machines dispense shopping rewards and ActiveSG credits, among other incentives.

To date, more than 10 million bottles and cans have been collected by the machines, which are in places such as schools, business parks and malls.

A Norwegian firm, Tomra, launched a visitor centre and research facility last month.

These moves come amid a renewed national push in Singapore in recent years to get people to recycle more - and correctly. The domestic recycling rate in 2020 and 2021 plummeted to a 10-year low of 13 per cent.

Singapore is developing a return policy for beverage containers, where a deposit is included in the price of the drink. A consumer receives a refund when the used bottles and cans are returned.

RVM Systems has sold its machines to more than 35 markets globally, mostly to support such return schemes, said Mr Ulf Wennblom, the company's area manager for the Asia-Pacific.

For the Singapore scheme, he suggested that the deposit on each bottle and can should be between 10 cents and 25 cents, depending on the size of the container.

Mr Wennblom added that the deposit and price of a drink should be stated separately on the price tag, to show customers that they are guaranteed to receive the refund, as long as they return the bottle for recycling.

If deposits are set too high, customers could be put off, affecting the beverage's sale, he added.

Collecting drink containers in reverse vending machines will maintain the value of the material and allow them to be recycled into similar containers, whereas those dumped with other recyclables could be easily contaminated and end up recycled as lower-quality materials.

On top of getting the deposit right, the siting of return points matters, for convenience.

Mr Wennblom said most machines in other countries are put in stores and supermarkets, since this fits shoppers' routines.

He noted that Singapore would be the first country in Asia to have a return scheme for beverage containers.

Such return schemes - universally known as deposit refund schemes - originated in the Nordic region, where recycling used bottles and cans has become part of citizens' daily routine. Reverse vending machines are ubiquitous there.

Norway started its scheme in the 1990s, and now has a return rate of 95 per cent.

Deposit refund schemes are partially financed by the producers and importers of drink containers.

Mr Eshton Chua, 27, who recycles regularly but has not used a reverse vending machine before, said the machines could also be deployed at every few blocks of flats and along routes most frequented by residents. "More Singaporeans should realise that recycling is a step that should be as routine as taking out trash daily," said Mr Chua, who runs a sustainable fashion business.