A college in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, is trialing a financial incentive to encourage recycling through the use of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs).
Throughout September, students across the Motherwell, Coatbridge and Cumbernauld campuses at New College Lanarkshire can earn a 20p reward - redeemable at the college’s canteens - for every can and plastic bottle recycled through RVMs on site.
The trial is designed to provide students with a similar experience to the Deposit Return Scheme, set to come into force across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in October 2027.
Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) have partnered with the college to roll out the recycling initiative.
“Being on the ground listening to students and capturing their thoughts on the messaging, campaign material design, ease of use and power of incentivisation will enable us to build stronger data to ensure that the incoming Deposit Return Scheme works for everyone,” said Barry Fisher, chief executive at Keep Scotland Beautiful.
The study aims to build on learnings from a previous campaign between the charity, CCEP and the University of Strathclyde. It tested various interventions and messaging to encourage students to recycle and think about their waste disposal choices, as well as their motivations for recycling.
Behavioural insights found half of students would recycle more if an incentive was offered.
The study at New College Lanarkshire will assess how a personal financial incentive influences recycling behaviour among students, with the expectation that it will also increase the volume of recycled bottles and cans collected through the RVMs.
Alongside this, three student households will document their experience over two weeks.
Jo Padwick, senior sustainability manager at CCEP GB, said: “Giving students the chance to live with a Deposit Return Scheme - something that will soon be a part of everyday life - will allow us to see first-hand how people interact with RVMs in reality.
“Hearing directly from students over four weeks will give us honest, human insight into both the practical and behavioural barriers to adoption, as well as what really motivates them to take part.
“Keep Scotland Beautiful brings invaluable experience to the partnership, and this kind of collaboration is key to ensuring the eventual rollout of DRS is as smooth and effective as possible.”
New College Lanarkshire deputy principal Ronnie Gilmour said: “We are delighted to be a partner on this initiative. We know that living in a clean and sustainable environment is very important to our students. I’m sure the data gathered through the scheme will make an important contribution to understanding behaviour around recycling.”
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