Bring ‘n’ buy

Space age technology to boost recycling Determined to get more customers recycling, a Tesco branch in Winchester has unveiled a sophisticated all-in-one collection bank to save them the trouble of sorting. Plastic, glass and aluminium all just goes in the one hole. The machine’s object recognition technology can tell cans from bottles, cartons from jars - and automatically sends the items to the right part of the bank. If the recycling habits of Winchester shoppers are transformed by these high-resolution cameras and infrared spectroscopes - the type found in airports, and space missions too, says Tesco - other retailers could follow suite. The state of the art machine is just one part of a £1.2 million scheme led by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to see whether hi-tech solutions and financial incentives, like discount vouchers, are the way to attract new recyclers. Local authorities, meanwhile, are exploring their own ways of bolstering recycling rates in partnership with Defra - which might eventually see the materialisation of ‘green loyalty cards’ [see ‘New kind of green shield?’, GF49]. And there’s some cause to be optimistic, if the latest figures are anything to go by. For the first time in years, there’s been an absolute reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill. A real first is that the UK is expected to meet its 2003-4 target of recycling or composting 17% of household waste (up from 14.5% in 2002-3). No time to rest on our laurels though; the target for 2005-6 is a rather stiffer 25%. - Hannah Bullock

27 January 2005

Hannah Bullock