New 'reverse vending machine' approved to return recyclable materials

Aldi says it expects the Dunfermline facility – also known as a reverse vending machine – to collect up to 24,500 items a week from customers visiting the Halbeath Road shop, who can deposit items in the car park.

Approval was previously given for the facility elsewhere in the car park – but the supermarket has sought to relocate it in order to avoid cutting as many parking spaces.

The supermarket’s agents Avison Young said: “These units are vital in order for Aldi to meet their legal duty to implement (this) at all their stores in Scotland.”

From July 2022, the Scottish Government is enacting a Nordic-style scheme to improve recycling rates and reduce littering.

Fifers will pay a 20p deposit every time they buy a drink in a can, plastic bottle or glass container. Upon returning it to any deposit machine, they get the 20p back.

Because of the compact nature of Aldi stores, the supermarket chain says it needs to install the facility in the car park, in a covered outbuilding that will operate with the same opening hours as the store itself.

Fife Council case officer Scott Simpson has given the plans conditional approval, making the 120 spaces a legal requirement.