People will be asked to deposit bottles and cans in special recycling machines dotted across the country starting from November 14, when a much-delayed beverage container recycling scheme finally goes live.
The scheme, which is intended to bump up bottle recycling rates in Malta, will see consumers pay a marginally higher price when buying drinks and then receive a voucher equivalent to that 10c price bump when they deposit the bottle or can in one of 320 specialised ‘reverse vending machines’ being set up around the country. Around 85 per cent of those machines should be in place by the November 14 launch date, allowing the scheme to go live, Circular Economy Malta said in a statement on Saturday.
The vouchers will be redeemable at shops that sell the beverages in question.
Cans that are squashed or bottles that have their labels removed will not be eligible for recycling.
Wine, spirit and juice bottles have been excluded from the scheme, which applies to:
water and flavoured watercarbonated and non-carbonated soft drinksciders, beers, and malt beveragesready to drink coffeeflavoured alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic content level which does not exceed...
