Belladrum festival set for recycling initiative

Revellers at a festival taking place in the Highlands next month will be able to boost their green credentials thanks to a new partnership.

RVMs will operate in recycling rooms in the Co-op pop-up store at the festival. Picture: contributed.

The tie-up between retailer Co-op and reverse vending machine (RVM) specialist Tomra to launch a fully functional deposit return scheme (DRS) trial at the 16th Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival near Inverness.

RVMs will operate in recycling rooms in the Co-op pop-up store at the festival, which is taking place on the Belladrum Estate from 1 to 3 August.

The move follows the Scottish Government’s recent announcement of its plans for an “all in” DRS.

Scottish music-lovers will pay a mandatory 10p deposit when they buy plastic bottles with a capacity of up to two litres at the Co-op pop-up. They can then use the adjacent machines to return their empty bottles for recycling and get their deposit back in the form of a voucher to spend in the on-site stores.

Alternatively, they can choose to donate their 10p to Keep Britain Tidy.

Alasdair Fowle, Co-Op partnership manager, said the tie-up will help show how consumers react to and use the machines, “and it’s great to know that the bottles posted into these festival machines will then be recycled into Co-op own brand water bottles”.

Truls Haug, MD of Tomra Collection Solutions UK & Ireland, said: “Ahead of the formal introduction of a [DRS] in Scotland, this represents a great opportunity for Belladrum’s music fans to experience for themselves the ease and simplicity of reverse vending and deposit return.”

He also welcomed the opportunity to help the event boost its sustainability credentials, “while hopefully promoting good recycling habits for the future”.

The DRS trial will see RVMs at Co-op’s pop-up stores across seven major UK music festivals this summer, including Creamfields, Reading and Leeds festivals in August.