Istanbul metro receives first reverse vending machine

ISTANBUL

Istanbul’s İTÜ-Ayazağa metro station has become the first station to receive a newly launched vending machine that accepts recyclable cans and bottles as currency. The city transportation pass, known as an Istanbul Card (Istanbul Kart), can be topped up by simply depositing a plastic bottle or aluminum beverage can into the machine.

The newly installed machine is the first reverse vending machine ever to be installed in a metro station in Istanbul, but the project is expected to spread to other metro stations in the city soon.

When a passerby inserts an empty plastic bottle, the machine’s sensor scans it to assess the size of the plastic: A 0.33 liter bottle will return 2 kuruş (one Turkish Lira is equal to 100 kuruş), a 0.5 liter bottle will return 3 kuruş, a 1 liter bottle will return 6 kuruş and a 1.5 liter bottle will return 9 kuruş.

As for aluminum beverage cans, the machine will return 7 kuruş for a 0.33 liter can and 9 kuruş for a 0.5 liter can.

Since one fare costs 2.60 liras, one needs to deposit at least 28 plastic 1.5 liter bottles or 0.5 liter aluminum cans in the machine in order to earn the price for a full fare.

The initiative was undertaken by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in an attempt to encourage recycling.

“With these smart machines, our waste management department and the municipality’s Smart City Technologies Company [İsbak] will contribute to the protection of the environment,” the municipality had said on Twitter early in September.

“We are continuing to pioneer in solid waste management,” it added.