In Malaysia, we rarely recycle. Thus, someone finally saw this as an issue and decided to take action by creating a vending machine that offers gold in return for recycled plastic bottles and aluminium cans.

This creation in a collaboration between fintech firm HelloGold and local reverse-vending machine (RVM) company KLEAN. They offer 0.00059 grams of investment-grade gold for each recycled plastic bottle and each aluminium can.

This means that you won’t be getting physical gold, you’ll have to download the HelloGold app from the Google Play Store or Apple Store and register for an account to earn your gold. Then go through a simple transition to convert your KLEAN e-credits  to gold in your HelloGold app.

Above is a similar innitiative done in Scotland. If you are not interested in gold, there are other things that you can swap your KLEAN e-credits for, such as food vouchers, smart card credits and more. Below is an example of how it would work. 

For a start, there will be 40 machines across Klang Valley by July, and 500 machines is said to be places across Malaysia’s key locations by the end of the year.

(content and images source: reversevending ; fintechnews)