New Recycling Vending Machine Introduced by UNO

Facility Blog is reporting that a new type of vending machine is being manufactured by Tomra Systems ASA that reverses the traditional vending concept.

The machine is meant to encourage recycling in facilities such as health care facilities, large offices, educational institutions and other organizations that typically generate a lot of waste.  The UNO is essentially a vending machine in reverse.  The user inserts recyclable material such as aluminum cans, glass bottles or other containers into the machine.  The vending machine will then sort the items by container type.

Additionally, the machine can be set up to encourage recycling by printing coupons for discounts when a user recycles something in the machine.

The UNO is meant to be an improvement over a traditional recycling bin that can generate waste or unwanted bugs.

Although there are some facilities using the machines, a couple Dunkin Donuts locations and a hospital in New Haven, CT, it’s our opinion that we probably will not see a large number of these machines since they likely cost thousands of dollars.  It’s pretty hard to justify the expense when a regular recycling receptacle cost closer to $30.