New vending machine exchanges recycled plastics, cans for gold

Malaysians will soon be able to earn gold by recycling their plastic bottles and aluminium cans.

South-east Asian fintech firm HelloGold and Malaysia’s reverse-vending machine (RVM) company KLEAN are implementing a recycling scheme that offers Malaysians 0.00059 grams of investment-grade gold for each recycled plastic bottle and each aluminium can. This is reportedly the first such initiative in the world.

Anyone can start earning gold by first downloading the HelloGold app from the Google Play Store or Apple Store and registering for an account. Once registered, users can bring their plastic bottles and aluminium cans to any KLEAN RVM for recycling. After depositing the bottles or cans in the machine, users can choose to convert their KLEAN e-credits into gold through a seamless integration between the KLEAN digital wallet and the HelloGold mobile app. Users can also register for an account at any of the forty machines that will be available across Klang Valley, which is centred in Kuala Lumpur, in July and 500 machines across Malaysia at key locations before the end of the year.

Robin Lee, CEO and co-founder of HelloGold, said: “Emerging economies across Asia are dealing with increasing plastic use and consumption. Without adequate recycling infrastructure or habits in place, these plastics end up in landfills and oceans destroying the environment. HelloGold’s partnership with KLEAN will incentivise people to clean up the environment, while accessing new financial products such as gold.”

He added that HelloGold has been expanding its reach to millions of online and offline communities through key partnerships such as Axiata’s Boost and Aeon Credit. “Our latest partnership with KLEAN reflects our shared values in using innovative technology to enable financial inclusion and wealth creation for the man on the street,” Lee concluded.

CEO of KLEAN Nick Boden highlighted that plastic waste is increasing around the world, yet recycling rates remain low. “Through this partnership, we aim to encourage greater recycling by showing Malaysians the potential wealth and money that lies around our communities, in our landfills and floats in our oceans,” he explained.

After launching in Malaysia, he sees "great potential" to expand KLEAN's offering to other countries such as Singapore and South Africa.

The KLEAN RVMs collect aluminium cans and plastic bottles, sort and crush on site, while registering users and rewarding them with virtual points. These collected items are then smelted back into aluminium in the case of cans and recycled into PET pellets in the case of plastic bottles.