Dream Machine rewards students for recycling

Vending machines have provided plastic bottle drinks for years. Now they’re starting to take… Vending machines have provided plastic bottle drinks for years. Now they’re starting to take them back.

Called the Dream Machine, this blue and white behemoth works as a reverse vending machine, one that collects used plastic and aluminum drink containers for recycling. Pitt just installed one outside the laundry room in Towers Lobby during the summer.

But these machines are more than just a neat way to recycle — they also use a points and reward system to encourage students to reduce their carbon footprint.

“It’s basically a recycling reward system,” said Rachel Meyer, who’s the student sustainability coordinator and was involved in bringing the Dream Machine to Pitt.

Using the Dream Machine is easy, Meyer said. Instructions are available on the touch screen, where students can register with an email and username that’s needed to redeem points.

First-time users then receive a key fob (a small access card) with a barcode on it by pulling a lever on the left side of the machine.

All recyclable items must have a barcode on them. The user scans the barcode and then places the aluminum or plastic bottle into the designated chute. Glass products and paper can not be recycled using the machine.

Recyclers follow the touchscreen instructions, then either swipe their key fobs to track reward points or defer registration for later.

The machine then shoots out a receipt that states the number of reward points earned.

The reward points can be redeemed for coupons or discounts on entertainment, dining, traveling or personal expenses at places such as the Marriott, Domino’s Pizza and Blockbuster. Students can redeem points at greenopolis.com.

“It’s a more fun way to recycle,” Meyer said.

Free the Planet president Eva Resnick-Day said that the Dream Machine is a great way to step up recycling awareness.

“It also gives people an incentive to go there and recycle,” Resnick-Day said.

Meyer said PepsiCo approached Pitt about installing the machine, and the Facilities Management is responsible for emptying the machine and recyling it with the rest of the materials collected on campus.

Jeremy Cage, senior vice president of innovation and insights at PepsiCo and head of the Dream Machine recycling initiative, said he was eager to start the initiative at Pitt.

“We are so pleased that the University of Pittsburgh has partnered with the Dream Machine program to make Dream Machines available to students and faculty,” Cage said through a PepsiCo spokeswoman.

PepsiCo introduced the Dream Machine in 2010. It currently supplies almost 2,000 machines across the country in public areas such as parks and stadiums.

According to a PepsiCo press release, “Through the Dream Machine recycling initiative, PepsiCo aims to create strategic partnerships to help increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate to 50 percent by 2018 by providing greater on-the-go access to recycling receptacles.”

The current recycling rate for nonalcoholic beverages in the U.S. is 34 percent.

“Experience tells us that people are much more likely to recycle if it’s convenient and they are rewarded for doing so,” Paul Ligon, managing director for Waste Management subsidiary Greenopolis, said in an email.

Meyer said that there are also plans to have three more Dream Machines installed in the future, if the current one gets used enough.

She said that she has seen students carrying their recyclables from Towers to the lobby, and that the machine usually has to be emptied once a day. Each machine holds about 300 bottles or cans.

“Clearly the kids want to save their bottles to recycle to get something back from it,” Meyer said.