Istanbul’s İTÜ-Ayazağa metro station has become the first station to receive a newly launched vending machine that accepts recyclable cans and bottles as currency. The city transportation pass, known as an Istanbul Card (Istanbul Kart), can be topped up by simply depositing a plastic bottle or aluminum beverage can into the machine.
The newly installed machine is the first reverse vending machine ever to be installed in a metro station in Istanbul, but the project is expected to spread to other metro stations in the city soon.
When a passerby inserts an empty plastic bottle, the machine’s sensor scans it to assess the size of the plastic: A 0.33 liter bottle will return 2 kuruş (one Turkish Lira is equal to 100 kuruş), a 0.5 liter bottle will return 3 kuruş, a 1 liter bottle will return 6 kuruş and a 1.5 liter bottle will return 9 kuruş.
