Have you ever thought about blending them together?
Recycling has been a hot topic in the recent years. Resources are burning and the Earth is dying due to various pollution and that is why we have to recycle, reuse and dispose of less items. The government has been promoting the importance of recycling for years and more and more recycling stations are set up in Hong Kong facilitating the collection of used plastic bottles, aluminium cans, paper, glass bottles, etc. Yet, the recycling rate is not really high, and this can be attributed to 2 mains reasons, insufficient recycling stations and the lack of citizen’s incentive to recycle.
It is deemed that the major reason behind low recycling rate is the lack of incentive. Indeed, it is quite troublesome to recycle in Hong Kong. Not only that you have to hold the item until you find a collection box, you will not be ‘rewarded’ for the time and effort you have spent too. In the light of this, an idea has came up to incorporate a recycling machine into a soda machine.
The idea is to to merge the two machines, and once a person throw a plastic bottle or a can into the recycling box, the machine will analyse it according to its size, material, weight, shape, etc. Any unrelated subjects will be detected and rejected by the machine. One the machine finished analysing the bottle, it will convert it into a discount for buying drinks. For instance, every aluminium can recycled will yield a 30 cents discount, while a plastic bottle will give a 60 cents discount. By doing so, we can increase the incentive of people recycling, and hopefully boost the recycling rate in Hong Kong.
Regarding the problem some may raise that this product is indeed encouraging people to consume more disposable cans and bottles. It is deemed that the small discount (less than a dollar) is not enough to encourage people to buy a 7-8 dollar drink; however, it is undoubtedly adding incentive for people to recycle.