Reverse vending machine (RVM)
RVM
Just Tell Me
A reverse vending machine takes empty containers; Singapore’s Return Right machines accept eligible drink containers and let users recover their deposits digitally.
Also called: RVM, Reverse vending machine, Return Right machine
Explain Like I’m Five
A normal vending machine gives you a drink after you pay. A Return Right machine takes an eligible empty container and lets you collect its refundable deposit. It is a return point for the Beverage Container Return Scheme.
How It Works
Keep the container empty and uncrushed, with its barcode readable. The machine scans it to check eligibility, then you follow the on-screen steps for a supported digital refund method.
Where You’ll Run Into It
At Singapore supermarkets and neighbourhood return points, including some HDB void decks and hawker-centre locations.
Example
“Don’t flatten that can before putting it in the Return Right machine.”
The shopper keeps the eligible can intact so the machine can identify it.
The Part People Get Wrong
It is not a general recycling bin. An item being recyclable does not make it refundable: Return Right accepts containers eligible for its scheme, identified by the deposit mark.
Sources
Related
- moneyBCRS (Beverage Container Return Scheme)Updated
BCRS is Singapore’s recycling scheme that adds a refundable deposit to eligible drink containers, returned when the empty containers go to designated return points.
- foodHawker centreUpdated
A hawker centre is a shared Singapore dining space where many independent stalls sell a wide range of prepared food and drinks.
- housingVoid deckUpdated
A void deck is the open, sheltered ground-floor space beneath many HDB blocks, used for passage, community activities and social functions.