Norwegian firm to deploy vending machines in Singapore to recycle bottles and cans

SINGAPORE - Residents here may soon have more opportunities to recycle their used drink bottles and cans in exchange for vouchers and refunds, as a Norwegian company looks at deploying reverse vending machines in Singapore.

The company, Tomra, developed the world's first fully automated reverse vending machine for recycling beverage containers in 1972 - and is now the world's leading provider of such solutions.

In efforts to raise the recycling rate of drink bottles and cans in Singapore, since 2019, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and F&N Foods have rolled out 50 of their own reverse vending machines, which dispense shopping rewards and ActiveSG credits, among other incentives.

The entrance of Tomra's machines would add to Singapore's recycling initiatives.

"Our aim is to eventually deploy as many of our reverse vending machines as possible in Singapore. We will be looking for opportunities to deploy our (machines), such as participating in NEA's upcoming Beverage Container Return Scheme," said Ms Bing Zhao, Tomra's vice-president and head of collection for Asia, on Thursday (March 31).

Singapore is in the midst of developing a return policy for beverage containers, where a deposit is included in their price. A refund will be given when the used bottles and cans are returned.

Ms Zhao was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of Tomra's new Resource Transformation Centre in Ang Mo Kio, which will serve as a visitor centre and a research and development (R&D) facility for waste-recovery solutions.

The 2,000 sq ft facility has a showroom for visitors that exhibits three of Tomra's various models of reverse vending machines, as well as the smart technologies that power and customise them.

The showroom also showcases educational videos on waste issues, recycling, and the need for a circular economy. The centre will also hold business talks with the waste management sector here.

Visitors can deposit bottles into the three machines at the centre to learn how they work.

Admission to the centre at Block 4010 Techplace 1 is free, but visitors must make an appointment by e-mailing ck.chai@tomra.com.

Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor launched the new centre on Thursday alongside Norway's Ambassador to Singapore Eivind S. Homme.

Dr Khor said Singapore has engaged Tomra and other technology providers to learn from their experiences with similar bottle-return schemes overseas.

At the R&D side of the centre, staff and researchers will work on designing a network of reverse vending machines that are space-efficient and equipped with technologies that are most suitable for Singapore.

Ms Zhao added: "For Singapore, we believe the (machines') locations should be a combination of public and retail spaces to maximise convenience and efficiency."

The machines in Singapore will be programmed to refund users easily through PayNow, PayLah!, ez-link, or in the form of shopping vouchers. Users can also choose to donate their rewards.

Tomra's reverse vending machine models range from lean ones that are suitable for small stores, to large and long ones that can accept more than 100 cans and bottles in one go.

Each machine is equipped with smart technologies that can identify containers based on their barcode, mass and shape. It will also automatically flatten and sort the bottles and cans so that the recycling process after the collection will be seamless.

The 1.8m-tall and 1.2m-wide T70 Dual, one of three models showcased at the centre, can accept two types of drink containers, and collect up to 1,500 PET bottles and up to 3,000 cans. It is suitable to be deployed in Singapore, said Ms Zhao.

She added that Tomra's container- or van-size reverse vending machine that can hold thousands of bottles may be suitable for residential estates.

To date, the 50 vending machines under NEA and F&N Foods have collected more than 10 million beverage containers, noted Dr Khor. Their locations include malls, community clubs and sports centres.

"As people continue to develop the good habit of returning their drink containers, I hope it will help set the stage for the successful roll-out of (the) proposed beverage container-return scheme in the future," added Dr Khor.

"We can only achieve a circular economy when recycling right becomes second nature to us."

Tomra has installed about 80,000 machines in over 60 markets globally, collecting more than 40 billion empty cans and bottles a year.

Collecting drink containers in reverse vending machines will maintain the value of the material and make them optimal for recycling into similar drinking bottles, whereas those dumped with other recyclables would be easily contaminated and be suitable only as lower-quality materials such as landfill cover.

In the longer term, Tomra intends to use Singapore as a launch pad to introduce its recycling and waste management products and technologies in South-east Asia.