Residents in Punggol now have a reason to recycle (if saving the environment isn’t a good enough one) — a “reverse vending machine” has made its debut at Waterway Point’s FairPrice Finest outlet.
Basically, instead of handing out cans or bottles filled with beverages, the machine will accept, identify and sort used ones. These collected items will then be sent to recycling plants in neighboring countries.
It’s part of a collaboration between food and beverage company F&N, supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, Frasers Centrepoint Malls, and Incon Green Singapore, the machine’s supplier.
Such machines aren’t new — The Straits Times noted that they’ve been around as early as 2009 — but with their proliferation across the island, it’ll soon become more convenient to recycle used cans and bottles. Two others will also be installed at Yew Tee Point and Bukit Merah Central FairPrice branches.
According to Channel NewsAsia, for every five used containers you recycle, you get a 50 cents voucher that you can use to buy F&N’s Ice Mountain water at selected FairPrice outlets. It’s not much, but at least you’ll also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you’re doing your part to save the environment.
ST explained that machines like the one at FairPrice cost more than $10,000 to build and can take in about 150 bottles daily. In case you’d like to avoid the crowd, take note that peak recycling timings include just after office hours and on weekends.
