Canary Wharf, a key financial district to the east of London, has installed the UK's first publicly accessible ‘deposit return scheme' recycling machine.
In a 19 April release, the financial area said the machine was part of its “breaking the plastic habit” campaign and was positioned in Canada Place for public use.
The move follows the UK government's announcement in March of launching consultation on deposit return schemes.
The automated machine uses a 360-degree scanning recognition system to identify, segregate, collect and process waste drink containers, said the Canary Wharf release.
The deposit return scheme at Canary Wharf will reward users with vouchers and discounts and is planned to roll out in the next few months.
Currently, only 43% of the 13 billion plastic bottles sold each year in the UK are recycled, with 700,000 littered each day. In Germany, 99% of plastic bottles are recycled after a similar deposit return scheme was introduced there in 2003, said the release.
Canary Wharf said over the next 12 months it will launch campaigns to further reduce ‘one-use plastics' and focus on tackling plastics pollution.
These include an “a pioneering total plastic straw ban” and “estate-wide one-use plastics audit”, it added.