Danone’s Evian brand has teamed up with Exchange for Change and the All England Lawn Tennis Club to pilot reverse vending machines (RVM) and a deposit return scheme (DRS) at the qualifying event for this year’s Wimbledon championships.
The initiative will allow spectators at the sporting showcase to experience how the UK DRS will work in practice 15 months ahead of it officially coming into play in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
The pilot will test how RVMs operate in a live event setting. This year’s qualifying session starts today and runs through Thursday 25 June to help finalise the line-up for the Grand Slam event which begins next week.
Over the course of the four days, spectators will be able to purchase official Wimbledon water partner Evian’s 75cl plastic bottles on-site. They will include a 20p deposit added at point of purchase, in a move that mirrors how the scheme will operate when it launches in October 2027.
Empty bottles can be returned via the two RVMs on site, from where they will be collected and recycled. Deposits collected through the pilot will be donated to the Wimbledon Foundation rather than being given back to consumers, so although reflecting most of the processes of a real DRS, this particular scheme requires a charitable mindset from those participating in it.
By running this in such a public setting, Danone and Exchange for Change – the organisation running the UK DRS – can gather valuable insights, helping to shape the consumer experience of the real scheme next year which will also include aluminium and steel drinks cans between 150ml to 3 litres.
Hannah Cornick, Danone North Europe sustainability & social impact director, commented: “Circularity is a core commitment of our impact journey strategy, and we are proud to support the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Exchange for Change in delivering this first-of-its-kind pilot ahead of the DRS’s national rollout next year.”
Hattie Park, senior sustainability manager at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, added: “This initiative gives guests at the championships qualifying competition an early experience of reverse vending machines as well as offering valuable insights to support the national rollout of the scheme.”
Kate McFerran, corporate affairs director at Exchange for Change, remarked: “The insights gained from this pilot, as well as others taking place over the coming months, will help ensure the scheme is designed to be as efficient and consumer friendly as possible so we can all play our part in removing litter from our environment and building a stronger circular economy.”
Two years ago, Danone rolled out Evian via refill for the first time to spectators at the main Wimbledon tournament. After analysing the success of the initiative, the drinks brand added additional locations and optimised its existing locations in 2025, allowing more people to refill rather than buy single use water bottles.
[image credit: Danone]
