WIREDGOV

Tesco is to pioneer 'reverse vending' in nine of its Scottish stores in a bid to help the Scottish Government create a zero waste society.

The rollout of the automated machines - which provide a reward to users for recycling their bottles and cans - will start in January with more planned depending on the scheme's success.

The announcement comes on the same day that new recycling figures show a 3.3 per cent improvement from the previous year.

Speaking at a waste conference in Glasgow, Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said:

"Earlier in the year we consulted on a number of innovative ideas aimed at improving Scotland's performance on waste.

"I am delighted to see that Tesco shares my vision of a 'Zero Waste Scotland' and is seeking to introduce reverse vending in Scotland.

"Reverse vending has terrific potential to improve our rates of recycling and evidence from Scandinavia and Canada shows that it has reaped real rewards."

"This week can be considered a genuine landmark in Scotland's push to become zero waste.

"Not only do we have the Tesco initiative, but today's recycling figures show a 3.3 per cent increase on the same time last year, taking us to 31.7 per cent, which is a great leap forward.

"In addition, the latest figures also indicate that waste growth has stopped, in line with our target, and I also understand we are fast approaching the sale of the 200,000th composting bin in Scotland.

"These latest moves reflect well on both local authorities and individuals but there is no room for complacency and we need to push on even further.

"We all have a role to play in ensuring Scotland becomes a cleaner, greener place and dealing with our waste responsibly is a huge part of that."

David North, Community and Government Director for Tesco said:

"As a responsible retailer, we are committed to helping our customers adopt green habits. They've asked us to make recycling easier so this is what our new automated machines are designed to do."

The Scottish Government is also committed to stopping growth in municipal waste by 2010.

Tesco's reverse vending machines use spectrometry and photography to identify what an object is made of before assigning it to the relevant bin. This means that recycling the waste is easier. The unit saves fuel too: it reduces the number of vehicle journeys required to empty it by shredding and compacting the waste.

Related Information

http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/data/returns.htm