What goes on inside the new sorting facility for used bottles and cans
The Straits Times journeys through the process of recycling used drink containers.
Singapore's new sorting facility for used beverage containers opened on September 21, 2026. Daily, over 1,200 bags of bottles and cans from reverse vending machines across the city are transported to the facility. An AI system identifies and counts the bags by colour, determined by their origin region. Robot arms open the bags and deposit the containers into a storage bin, while residual liquid is drained to decrease contamination risk.
A magnetic separator removes steel cans, and non-magnetic aluminium cans are isolated using eddy currents. Plastic bottles and aluminum cans are then propelled to a separating drum and wind sifter, which eliminates labels and filters out bottle caps and rings. Each bottle is guided into its correct bin using air jets, with plastics identified by material type via infrared rays.
The sorted containers are compressed into bales for sale to recyclers. The facility's design shrank its footprint and contained odors by employing pipes instead of conveyor belts.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
