NEA rolls out reverse vending machines in Singapore for promoting aluminium cans, plastic bottles recycle

National Environment Agency (NEA), together with drinks manufacturer Fraser and Neave (F&N), reportedly launched reverse vending machines at Our Tampines Hub in Singapore on Thursday, October 31, as part of 'The Recycle N Save' initiative.

The machines will accept empty drink cans and plastic bottles, and for every four drink receptacles will issue a discount voucher worth 20 cents, which can be used at any FairPrice, Cheers, or FairPrice Xpress outlet.

As per the report, the vending machines are capable of holding up to 600 aluminium cans and plastic bottles at a time, featured with a compactor that flattens the drink cans and bottles to save space.

The initiative followed favourable response from the public to the pilot initiative at Waterway Point in Punggol in January last year.

The NEA also reportedly replaced the machine used for the pilot initiative with an updated one, which was among the first batch of 10 rolled out yesterday.

This initiative is believed to help tackle packaging waste, along with food waste and electronic waste identified in Singapore's Zero Waste Masterplan, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli at the launch at Our Tampines Hub.

NEA chief executive Tan Meng Dui said the programme was part of the agency’s effort to test out different public collection systems as they had already been working towards implementing the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for packaging waste over the next few years.  

Mr Lee Meng Tat, chief executive of the non-alcoholic beverages division at F&N Foods, said: "With the launch of this initiative, F&N reinforces its commitment to play its part in protecting the environment by ensuring that its packaging is environmentally friendly, and to encourage and reward consumers to recycle the cans and bottles."