Reverse Vending Machine installed at EA Mall, Chennai

The world consumes nearly 1/2 trillion PET Bottles every year, with a million Plastic Bottles bought around the world every minute! Placed end to end vertically, the bottles we discard will reach half way to the sun! PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is a highly recyclable material. Yet only 50% of the bottles are collected, of which, only 7% end up being recycled into new bottles.

In order to encourage the public to start “recycling”, Sharon Ply has installed a REVERSE VENDING MACHINE at Express Avenue Mall, Royapettah, Chennai. This machine will accept PET bottles and cans and, in return, give coupons that can be redeemed at select food outlets and stores. The machine has a slot for people to drop their empty water bottles or cola cans. The machine will return coupons for the dropped PET bottles/cans which can be redeemed in the respective outlets mentioned in coupon. This machine crushes the collected PET bottles/cans which is gathered and sent to Recycling units.

This machine is one of the first of its kind to be installed in Chennai. The inauguration was done by Mr. D. Sekar – Member Secretary, TNPCB, on 27^th February, 2019 at 08.00 pm. The event was also attended by Mr. Vishnu Khemani, Managing Director – Sharon Ply and Mr. G. Dinakaran, DGM, EA Mall.

The machines are manufactured by M/s. Zeleno Pvt. Ltd., Delhi. Installing these machines at public places with lot of traffic is sure to highlight the need for recycling. Since the effort taken to recycle is rewarded with coupons, Sharon Ply hopes that Tamil Nadu soon becomes a leader in plastic recycling.