Two people try out the Maltipac. Photo: Courtesy of Incom Recycle Co Ltd

Incom Recycle Co Ltd installed the first of its upgraded smart recycling machines, named Maltipac, for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles, glass bottles, and metal cans in Beijing on June 7.

The only recycling company with the ability to produce food grade PET material in China, Incom partnered with Norwegian recycling machine suppliers TOMRA Sorting Solution to modernize and digitalize its recycling system.

The new machine was installed at the Lianxiangqiao branch of Wumart, a well-known supermarket chain based in Beijing and one of Incom's recycling partners. China Resources C'estbon Beverage (China) Co Ltd is another partner.

With this new set of machines, Incom hopes to introduce the deposit-refund system to China's recycling industry. Popular in European countries, the system encourages PET bottle recycling by incentivizing the return of plastic bottles. Each returned bottle earns the recycler 0.2 yuan ($0.03).