As reported on these pages last week, FMCG company Danone teamed up with Exchange for Change to run a trial deposit return scheme (DRS) in the build-up to Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis Club,
At last week’s qualifying event for this year’s Wimbledon championships – which are now well under way, of course – visitors were able to use reverse vending machines (RVM) to dispose of their empty Evian bottles.
It wasn’t a true representation of the DRS in action because the deposit paid upfront was not returned with the bottle – it was, instead, donated to the Wimbledon Foundation charity. Danone said, however, that the collected bottles were recycled.
The pilot DRS came 15 months ahead of it officially coming into play in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
Two RVMs were on site to collect the used packaging. This is the type of machine expected to be installed in locations across the UK, including in retail stores, as one way to collect used bottles and cans and repay consumer deposits.
[image credits: Danone]
