British retailer Iceland has announced that it has recycled over one million plastic bottles since the launch of its 'reverse vending machine' trial in May of last year.
The pilot project gained positive feedback from customers, with 96% of shoppers saying that all retailers should introduce a deposit return scheme.
Around 67% of customers used the machines during this phase, citing environmental reasons for doing so.
Richard Walker, managing director at Iceland, commented, "The results from our reverse vending machine trials highlight the growing demand from consumers to have a deposit return scheme introduced across the UK."
Pilot Project
In May and June of 2018, the retailer installed reverse vending machines in its stores in Fulham, Mold, Musselburgh, and Wolverhampton.
The pilot project was extended to Belfast in January of this year.
The trial in Wolverhampton's ended in July 2019, and a new machine has been installed at the Iceland store in the Merrion Centre in Leeds.
'Phenomenal' Impact
Walker added, "We have more than 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."
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
