As temperatures soared and the ongoing heatwave required people to drink more to stay hydrated, the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (BCRS) reached a record collection of 891,000 bottles in one day on Monday.
Demand for electricity reached a new record of 663MW on Tuesday, as Malta sizzled under record-equalling temperatures for July. According to the Meteorological Office, Monday’s highest temperature reached 42.7°C, equal to the highest ever recorded for July.
As more bottles and beverage containers were taken for recycling to the machines, located around Malta and Gozo, some machines were impacted by the string of power cuts that have been plaguing the island.
“Most of the island has been impacted by power cuts, and the sites of BCRS were no exception,” a spokesperson said when asked why some machines were not working.
“Despite this inconvenience, a collection rate of 74 per cent has been maintained every month. Since fewer machines were available to the public due to the power cuts, the other machines that remained online faced more stress. Notwithstanding this, at the moment, the average number of beverage containers collected each day is 806,000,” the spokesperson said.
Last month the Beverage Container Refund Scheme reached a milestone when the 100-millionth container was deposited. The record number of containers collected in one day in June was on June 24 when consumers returned 768,000 containers. Just a month ago the average daily collection stood at almost 675,000 containers.
The scheme, operated by BCRS Malta, a not-for-profit private operator made up of the island’s beverage producers, beverage importers and beverage retailer associations, was rolled out last November.
Through the scheme, customers pay an additional 10c per beverage container, including aluminium or steel beer cans and plastic water or soft drink bottles.
The 10c refund is received in the form of a coupon (or can be donated to charity) when the containers are disposed of at one of the BCRS’s reverse vending machines around the islands. Bottles or tins must not be crushed when inserted into the machines.