A reverse vending machine for sorting yoghurt cups and pet bottles

Abstract

With the ever-increasing amount of waste disposal by mankind, the requirement for waste management is paramount. Apart from dumping waste in landfills, recycling is another popular solution adopted by the world to manage waste. As an effective collection mechanism of plastic waste, automatic recycle bins are employed in many countries in common places like subways and, malls. Furthermore, different rewarding mechanisms are in place to motivate the consumers to return the plastic waste. Reverse vending machines which encourage the collection of plastic waste and provide rewards are used in some countries. However, existing reverse vending machines lack features like separating plastic based on their plastic category. PET bottles and Yoghurt cups are some of the mostly disposed plastic containers in Sri Lanka. There are companies that use these types only to recycle and manufacture unique recycled products. This paper focuses on developing a reverse vending machine with plastic type sorting function to be used in the Sri Lankan context. The existing mechanisms were reviewed and a solution is designed to operate with Near-infrared (MR) plastic sorting and gravity transfer method. Furthermore, an appropriate rewarding mechanism is also proposed.