The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) announced today (June 19) that Stage 2 of the Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) Pilot Scheme will be launched on June 25 in phases to further enhance the RVM service, enabling more members of the public to participate in making use of smart RVMs for clean recycling of plastic beverage containers.
To pave the way for the implementation of the Producer Responsibility Scheme on Plastic Beverage Containers in the future, the EPD rolled out a pilot scheme in the first quarter of 2021 to test the application of RVMs for collecting plastic beverage containers in Hong Kong. A total of 60 RVMs have been installed at public places, government facilities and shopping centres with suitable foot traffic, with the provision of an instant rebate via e-payment platforms to encourage the public to return used plastic beverage containers.
An EPD spokesman said, "Positive responses from the public have been received since the rollout of the pilot scheme as evidenced in the quantity of plastic beverage containers recovered by the RVMs in recent months, which reached about 1,000 per day per unit on average. As of the end of May 2022, more than 22 million plastic beverage containers have been collected under the pilot scheme. Stage 2 of the pilot scheme will be launched on June 25 with the number of RVMs increased progressively to 120 in phases, allowing members of the public to get more hands-on experience in the operation of RVMs and participate in the recycling of plastic beverage containers. All the plastic beverage containers collected under the pilot scheme will be delivered to suitable local recyclers for recycling to ensure the conversion of waste to resource."
The spokesman added, "With the operation experience accumulated over the past year, several improvement measures will be adopted in Stage 2 of the pilot scheme, such as equipping the new generation RVMs with upgraded bottle recognition technology, a higher processing speed and a greater container compression ratio to provide a higher storage capacity (equivalent to increasing the storage of compressed 500 millilitre bottles by 20 per cent from a maximum of some 1,000 to about 1,200); enhanced collection services for plastic beverage bottles, etc. In addition, the Government-appointed contractor will provide an ambassador service to assist the public in using the RVMs properly."
Information about RVM locations, service hours and real-time operation status are available at the dedicated website.
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