Tesco RVM installed 1 Year ago!
Our Reverse Vending Machine was installed in the Tesco Borehamwood store on the 27th September 2018.
The machine has been installed exactly one year ago today!
This installation was the very first (instore) RVM System in the UK , initially the RVM was set up to only receive Tesco own brand bottles upto 750ml rewarding the customer with 10 pence for every bottle retuned.
The initial trial allowed consumers to deposit a maximum of 10 bottles per customer, per day and only bottles up to 750ml in size could be deposited.
Tesco wanted to test “on the go” recycling to accept smaller bottles consumed “on the go” , due to public demand and the large volumes of bottles sold in UK Supermarkets over 750 ml Tesco opened the database enabling the RVM to accept any Tesco drinks bottle upto 3 litres!
Once the RVM System started to accept large bottles (upto 3 litres) the recycling figures increased dramatically !
The impact on store staff has been insignificant and the overall response from customers and store staff has been very positive, with many families changing their shopping habits to include saving bottles to return to the store on their next visit !
Tesco are very happy with the Borehamwood pilot and the RVM Systems team have enjoyed working Elliott and DRS Team at Tesco Head Office !
Here is the original Press Release :
Tesco trials money back on returned plastic bottles, and calls for a national approach to recycling
27 September 2018
Tesco has today announced further ways to make it simpler for customers to recycle and reuse plastic packaging, and stepped up its commitment to move to a closed loop packaging system. It also calls on Government to introduce a consistent nation-wide approach to recycling.
To encourage customers to recycle plastic bottles, Tesco has today begun trialling in-store recycling machines, which will pay customers for every plastic bottle returned. The trial will take place at selected stores in Borehamwood, Swansea, Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham. The first machine opens for customers in Borehamwood today (27 September) and will pay 10p for bottles returned.
In addition, from 3 October customers will be able to reuse their own multi-use plastic containers when they buy meat, cheese or fish from deli and fish counters in UK stores. Instead of using single-use plastic bags, products will be weighed and wrapped in recyclable paper then placed inside the customer’s container with the price label placed on the paper.
Earlier this year Tesco announced its intention to simplify the number of materials it used in packaging to help improve the ease and rate of recyclability. It also highlighted the challenges of having different collection schemes in different local authority areas making it costly and confusing for customers to recycle.
Jason Tarry, UK and ROI CEO said:
“We are already committed to eliminating single use plastic wherever we can and make recycling simpler for customers. Today is another step in that direction
“However, we know that it is going to take retailers, manufacturers and government to work together to make progress. We would urge the government to move to a single, nationwide approach to waste collection that makes it much easier for people to recycle.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Tesco’s approach to packaging
Over 80% of the packaging on all our own brand Tesco products is recyclable depending on if the local authority collect it. As part of our Little Helps plan, we have made the following commitments:
- Making all packaging fully recyclable or compostable by 2025.
- Ensuring that all paper and board used will be 100% sustainable by 2025.
- Halving packaging weight by 2025 compared to 2007 levels.
www.tescoplc.com/little-helps-plan/products-packaging/
In May 2018, Tesco announced its commitment to remove, reduce, recover, reuse and recycle packaging.
We outlined three steps to achieve this:
- Materials and design: In collaboration with our suppliers, we can reduce and simplify the types of materials we use in our packaging so that less packaging is used and packaging is easier to recycle. We have reviewed every material used in our Own Brand packaging and as a result of our review and consultation process with our suppliers, we have developed a preferred material list for our product packaging.
- Recovery/recycling: This is one area we need greater innovation and there is opportunity for significant government leadership. Currently, the inconsistencies in infrastructure and recycling activities between councils make consumer education and closed loop systems impossible to build. We would welcome the creation of an integrated national collection of packaging and investment in innovative recycling facilities. This is essential to a holistic approach to packaging recycling. PRN reform is also a necessary part of the solution and we look to contributing to this process.
- Changing customer behaviour: Behaviour change can only be driven once a recognised and understood recycling infrastructure is in place. Getting this right will support consumer education and practice.
Reverse Vending Scheme
According to the results of a national poll by YouGov, nearly three quarters of Britons would be likely to return plastic bottles and aluminium cans under a Reverse Vending Scheme.
The first bottle trials will be limited to 10 bottles per customer, per day and up to 750ml bottles can be deposited.
Bring your own container
Following a successful trial in 10 stores, customers will be able to use their own containers at deli counters in over 700 UK stores.
Customers will not be able to use their own containers for:
- Hot food products such as cooked rotisserie chicken.
- Store prepared pizzas.
- The salad bar.
- Olives and antipasti.
Customers will need to bring separate containers for raw and ready-to-eat cooked products.
Customers can only use multi-use plastic sealable containers. No glass, metal or cardboard containers will be accepted.
The paper wrapping is 100% recyclable and biodegradable. Share tools
For more information please contact the Tesco Press Office on 01707 918 701
We are a team of over 450,000 colleagues dedicated to serving customers a little better every day.
In the News :
https://www.edie.net/news/5/Tesco-trials-in-store-reverse-vending-machines-for-plastic-bottles/
http://www.recyclingwasteworld.co.uk/news/tesco-trials-reverse-vending-machines/189754/
https://www.britishplastics.co.uk/Environment/tesco-launches-in-store-bottle-return-scheme/
- Published in News
Oor Wullie’s BIG Farewell Weekend
Oor Wullie’s BIG Farewell Weekend at the Glasgow SEC 13-15 September 2019
The Zero Waste Scotland’s sculpture – Bring Back Your Empties Wullie – is inspired by Scotland’s forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme, in which customers will pay a 20p deposit and get it back when they return their plastic bottle, glass bottle or can for recycling.
Scotland’s deposit return scheme will improve recycling rates, increase the quality of recycling materials, and significantly reduce litter.
“Zero Waste Scotland is proud to be part of Oor Wullie’s Big Bucket Trail. The trail has really captured the public’s imagination and will raise vital funds for a fantastic cause.
“Bring Back Your Empties Wullie >> webpage
We demonstrated the latest x3 “Deposit Return Ready” Reverse Vending Machine at the Zero Waste Scotland stand at the SEC Glasgow.
Oor Wullie (English: Our Willie) is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper The Sunday Post. It features a character called Wullie Russell .
Wullie is the familiar Scots nickname for boys named William. His trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he uses as a seat – most strips since early 1937 begin and end with a single panel of Wullie sitting on his bucket.
Barry and Richard from RVM Systems demonstrated the machine to event visitors and found that everyone is really looking forward to Scotland’s forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme.
The weekend was great fun with many “characters” and superheroes walking around the event and wanting to know more about the Deposit Return Scheme.
- Published in News
Scotland’s first in-store “reverse vending” machine at Musselburgh Iceland
Today we presented an award to the store staff at Musselburgh Iceland Store , following a hugely successful “pilot” installation.
We surpassed all set targets for the “pilot” and by working closely with store staff we changed the behaviour of customers who embraced the technology and quickly became avid recyclers.
On the 6th of June 2018 Musselburgh’s Iceland store became the first supermarket in Scotland to introduce a reverse vending machine (RVM) in a bid to end plastic pollution.
The frozen food giant is expected to share insights gained from its RVM trial with both the UK and Scottish governments as they continue to consult on deposit return.
Iceland Foods Group managing director Richard Walker said the trial represents further progress in the firm’s commitment to tackling plastic pollution.
“While the initial trial in London (with RVM Systems) has been a success Iceland Foods feel it is important to include insights from consumers elsewhere in the UK to get a better understanding of the challenges we might face,”
RVM Systems installed the first machine in the Fulham Iceland store on the 18th May 2018. This was an industry first , as it was the first deposit return installation in a UK Supermarket. On the 6th June 2018 we installed Scotland’s first Deposit Return scheme in the Musselburgh store.
The Musselburgh installation followed Iceland’s industry first in London the previous month , when we installed the UK’s first in-store supermarket reverse vending machine in the Iceland Foods Fulham store.
Today (12th September 2019) we removed our machine from the store and presented an award to the staff at the Musselburgh store to mark the end of our “pilot” at the store!
The Machine from Mussleburgh is being moved to a new location at an Iceleland Foods store in Scotland!
The installation at Iceland Musselburgh has received a 100% positive feedback from customers and store staff and has worked faultlessly for the duration of the “pilot”
RVM Systems team enjoyed working with the regular customers as well as staff at the store and became friends with many and will miss working with the wonderful store staff.
Here are some of the original press releases about the installation :
First in Scotland -Deposit Return Scheme
Musselburgh Supermarket installs reverse vending machine for plastic bottles
Scots Supermarket installs Reverse Vending Machine
Scotland’s First Reverse Vending Machine is at Musselburgh Iceland
Deposit Return debuts at Musselburgh Iceland
Iceland Foods Official Press release
Iceland Foods original Press Release
5 June 2018
Iceland Foods Group extends plastic reduction trial to three more UK stores Iceland today announces that it will be extending its market-leading trial for the use of reverse vending machines in England, Scotland and Wales as it continues its efforts to end the scourge of plastic pollution.
Following the launch of Iceland’s industry-first trial in Fulham last month, Iceland’s fast-growing chain of larger stores, The Food Warehouse, will see its first reverse vending machine installed in Wolverhampton today. Machines will also be installed at Iceland’s Musselburgh store, near Edinburgh, this week and in Mold in North Wales later in the month.
The six month trials are designed to help the company better understand consumer perceptions and appetite for plastics recycling technology across the UK.
Reverse vending machines reward individuals for recycling, by providing money or vouchers in return for empty containers. Iceland’s reverse vending machines will accept Iceland’s empty plastic beverage bottles and repay customers with a 10p voucher for each recycled bottle to be used in store.
Iceland’s in-store trials come ahead of the expected launch of a national Deposit Return Scheme, to which the UK, Welsh and Scottish Governments have all announced their commitment in principle. The trials will help Iceland to provide Government and industry with insights that might support the creation of a national scheme.
Iceland Foods Group Managing Director, Richard Walker commented: “Today’s announcement is a further step in our commitment to tackling the issue of plastic pollution globally, following our pledge to eliminate plastic packaging from all of our own label products by the end of 2023. “While our initial trial in London has been a success we feel it is important to include insights from consumers elsewhere in the UK to get a better understanding of the challenges we might face. “At least one third of plastics, much of this relating to packaging, is single use and then discarded – plastic bottles are a prime example of this.
Through our trials, we hope to understand how to make it easier for people to act in an environmentally conscious way while tackling the threat of the millions of plastic bottles that go unrecycled every day.”
It is estimated more than 12 million tonnes of plastic enters the world’s oceans every year, putting the lives of all forms of marine life at risk, from larger animals through to plankton, and there are fears that toxins originating from plastics are then re-entering the food chain via seafood. 2 Iceland announced in November last year that it would be supporting Greenpeace’s call to the Government to adopt the Deposit Return Scheme for bottles.
The company has a long history of campaigning and leading positive change for the environment, being the first UK supermarket to remove artificial flavours and colours from its own brand food and the first UK retailer to commit to removing palm oil from own label ranges,
Ends
- Published in News