Introducing a “Smart Bin” for retailer returns
What about if you can't afford a Reverse Vending Machine for the Deposit Return Scheme?
Retailers are likely to be paid a per bottle handling fee for taking returns. If you are a larger return site such as a supermarket, the number of returns provides sufficient fees to pay for a reverse vending machine and the running costs. However reverse vending machines are expensive to buy and maintain- so what if you don't get enough bottle return handling fees to pay for one?
Well the reality is that without any other alternatives you'll be left bagging and tagging them manually in collection bags. This leaves you at risk of miscounting, having bags full of recycling cluttering up the place and a security issue- because each bottle is still worth 20p to you*.
However there may be another alternative.
(*Scottish scheme)
"Smart bins" can bridge the gap
One of the reasons RVMs are so expensive is that they are consumer facing. They are therefore at risk of being spoofed by persons unknown, so need to have robust (and expensive) technology to avoid fraud and damage.
Commercial Smart bins are for retailer use (not public) and utilise much simpler technology. They are also much cheaper, and a full solution of 3 bins (one for each container type) can be less than half the cost of a Reverse Vending Machine which has much higher purchasing and servicing costs and much lower capacity.
The RecySmart devices are battery powered, weatherproof, require very little maintenance and can be fitted via an adapter to most types of bins, so are a simple mid-cost solution for retailers.
Base Case- RVM plus Manual
Once returns drop below a certain threshold, the cost per container of running a reverse vending begins to soar, leaving manual returns as the only option
RVM plus RecySmart plus Manual
Because a RecySmart enabled smart bin solution is so much cheaper than a RVM solution, the break point for turning to a purely manual solution is much lower.