Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Keep Scotland Beautiful have joined forces to launch a pioneering initiative at New College Lanarkshire, specifically at the Motherwell, Coatbridge, and Cumbernauld campuses near Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. This is a pilot program through which students will receive financial rewards in exchange for recycling their aluminum cans and plastic bottles in Reverse Vending Machines (RMV).
According to Jo Padwick of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners UK, this is a Deposit Return Scheme aimed at promoting a culture of recycling and sustainability in students’ daily lives. This type of environmental incentive has proven to be effective, according to data from a report by Ball Packaging and Eunomia, which show higher recycling rates in states where it is implemented. The benefits of this program could generate nearly 31 million tons of reusable material worth $5.5 billion, according to data from Resource Recycling Magazine.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Keep Scotland Beautiful´s program
According to information from The Manufacturer, students from New College Lanarkshire will be the participants in a pilot program carried out through the collaboration between Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Keep Scotland Beautiful. The aim of this program is to incorporate into students’ daily lives the habit of recycling their cans and bottles, promoting this sustainable practice. According to Jo Padwick of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners UK, “Giving students the opportunity to live with a deposit return system—something that will soon be part of everyday life—will allow us to see firsthand how people interact with RVMs in reality”.
What does it involve?
The program will be implemented at the universities of Motherwell, Coatbridge, and Cumbernauld near Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Reverse vending machines (RVMs) will be installed there, through which students will purchase their drinks with a surcharge for each container, which they can recover when they return it empty for subsequent recycling. With this action, they will recover 20 pence ($0.27) for each container. Padwick explained, “Listening directly to students over four weeks will give us an honest and human insight into the practical and behavioral barriers to adoption, as well as what genuinely motivates them to participate”.
Cash incentives drive recycling success
This type of initiative is pioneering in Scottish universities, but not in the world. A report prepared by Ball Packaging and Eunomia in 2023 provides clear data on the effectiveness of this program: nine of the 10 states with the highest recycling rates offer a recycling refund. However, none of the 10 states with the lowest rates provide a financial incentive. There is no doubt that offering a financial incentive is attractive to consumers, who see immediate feedback, while also contributing to reducing pollution and adopting a sustainable practice with long-term benefits.
According to Resource Recycling Magazine, “If a best-in-class DRS were introduced in the United States today, 447 billion beverage containers could be captured instead of lost. Recycling these 447 billion containers could generate nearly 31 million tons (33.77 million metric tons) of material for reuse, with an approximate value of 5.5 billion dollars. Moreover, recycling these containers would result in 34.1 million fewer tons of heat-trapping pollution compared to producing new containers. That is equivalent to saving 3.5 billion gallons of gasoline”.
Coca-Cola’s plastic waste problem and the recycling solution
Coca-Cola has become the world’s leading producer of branded plastic waste. Despite the brand’s stance on environmental issues, this type of program undoubtedly brings benefits to it, as well as representing a significant step forward for the environment. There is no need to wait for a reverse vending machine to appear in our lives to start taking action: it is as simple as beginning to recycle regardless of economic incentives.