Aimed at encouraging positive recycling behaviour, the trial – a partnership between environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, New College Lanarkshire and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) - saw the RVMs used eighty times more than when compared to the same period last year[1].
In total, 20,177 bottles and cans – 11,293 cans and 8,884 plastic bottles – were recycled during the trial, compared to just 255 bottles and cans in the same period last year.
However, once the incentive ended, usage dropped sharply, with just 346 containers recycled the following week, a 91% decrease on the trial’s weekly average.
The five-week trial led to an 80% redemption[2] of the 20p vouchers students received for recycling their containers.
The initiative builds on learnings from a previous campaign between the charity, CCEP and the University of Strathclyde, which tested various interventions and messaging to encourage students to recycle and think about their waste disposal choices, as well as their motivations for recycling.
The University of Strathclyde campaign found that 50% of students felt an incentive would encourage them to recycle more – a finding clearly reflected in the results from New College Lanarkshire.
Barry Fisher, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “As expected a small incentive drove a huge increase in the use of these Reverse Vending Machines during this trial period.
