Reverse vending machine operator Incom forms recycling ventures

Reverse vending machines at a supermarket in Beijing. Operations will focus on discarded plastic beverage bottles Beijing Incom Resources Recovery Co Ltd, the reverse vending machine operator, is setting up two new joint ventures with Norway's Tomra Sorting Solutions－a provider of sensor-based sorting equipment for recycling, food, mining and specialty products. Reverse vending machines are used by retailers, large-scale distributors and the beverage industry to recycle glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers. Chang Tao, a director with Incom, said the firm has so far introduced 2,200 recycling machines across Beijing, and that's expected to hit 3,000 by the end of the year. He said many Western governments now encourage people to separate waste PET bottles from other plastic waste, so it can be collected and remade into bottles－just what the two joint ventures will be trying to push in China and across Asia, said Mao.