Haverhill showing the way in reverse vending machine recycling scheme

Haverhill is leading the way in a groundbreaking recycling scheme that is now gaining more support in other towns.

Just over one year ago, reverse vending machines were installed at two locations in both Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds, with another added inside Haverhill Leisure Centre six months ago.

Users can put their used plastic bottles and cans into the machine, receiving one point for each item, which can then be redeemed at retailers or spent on local businesses via a smartphone app called Trovr.

The initiative was the idea of Janne Jarvis, who was tired of seeing litter on the streets of Cambridge, where he lives, and wanted to change that.

He started pursuing it in 2022 but finding it difficult to make progress as a regular citizen decided to stand as a councillor in order to be able to push things forward.

He was duly elected in 2023 to represent Newmarket North on West Suffolk Council, since then he has been leading the way, in partnership with the district council as well as other partners such as Abbeycroft Leisure and West Suffolk College.

The contributions of stakeholders, said Cllr Jarvis, have been key.

Cllr David Smith, the mayor of Haverhill: "We are excited that Haverhill has been chosen to be part of the vanguard of this new and important initiative to install Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) in public spaces.

“Our thanks go to Cllr Janne Jarvis for having the foresight and drive to get this project off the ground, with the full support of West Suffolk Council.”

The chair of Haverhill Town Council's energy and sustainability committee, Cllr Liz Smith, invited Cllr Jarvis to address the committee where he gave a compelling argument for the benefit of RVMs, and the council was pleased to be able to give its backing, added the mayor.

He continued: “It is a small but significant step to address the climate emergency that has been declared, but we can already see that interest in the initiative is growing, with enquiries coming in from across the region.

“Rome wasn't built in a day, but if we can get enough authorities on board, we may stand a chance of reversing the effects of climate change."

Cllr Jarvis hopes that another machine can be installed in Haverhill, while machines are also in the Kingfisher Leisure Centre in Sudbury, at the University of Northampton and if all goes well, will soon be in Cambridge too.