Iceland’s reverse vending machines recycle over one million plastic bottles in just over one year

Iceland has recycled more than one million plastic bottles since May 2018, following its industry-leading move to trial reverse vending machines in a selection of its stores.

During the trial period Iceland has been gaining feedback from its customer, who have responded extremely positive with 96 per cent of shoppers believing the scheme should be extended to all retailers.

Iceland’s customer insights showed the main motivation for people using the reverse vending machines was environmental concerns, with 67 per cent choosing this option above any others.

The trial highlights widespread consumer support for the introduction of a deposit return scheme, with two thirds of customers using the machine at least once a fortnight, and 75 per cent believing the introduction of 20p deposits on plastics bottles would be a good idea.

Richard Walker, Managing Director at Iceland, said: “The results from our reverse vending machine trials highlight the growing demand from consumers to have a deposit return scheme introduced across the UK.”

“Iceland was the first retailer to trial reverse vending machines and we believe the customer feedback we have received shows that our simple model of accepting all sizes of plastic drinks bottle, and extending this to include drinks cans, is the only sensible way to roll out a deposit return scheme nationally.”

“We have more that 950 stores across the UK and with the support of the government we could fit a reverse vending machine in every one of our stores.”

“With over one million bottles returned to just five of our stores, the positive environmental impact of having machines across the UK would be phenomenal.”