Grab Malaysia teams up with KLEAN and MRANTI for easy plastic recycling
Grab Malaysia (Grab) has partnered with KLEAN and the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI), to recover and recycle single-use plastic with Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs). Grab and KLEAN plan to roll-out artificial intelligence (AI)-driven RVMs at specific locations where users can easily send their recyclable food packaging waste to be processed.
Grab hopes this partnership will help encourage recycling and make it easier for consumers to contribute to a greener Malaysia. Grab will leverage its platform to increase visibility, as well as drive consumer participation and education efforts on plastic recycling. At the same time, MRANTI’s role in providing integrated facilities for end-to-end research, development, commercialisation, and innovation (R&D&C&I) services will assist in the enhancement of the AI on the RVMs.
KLEAN RVMs was launched in 2019 by JANZ Technologies for the collection of aluminum cans and plastic bottles. The collected items are sorted on-site, while registering users and rewarding them with virtual points. The items are then smelted back into aluminum in the case of cans or recycled into polyethylene terephthalate (PET) pellets and fibre in the case of plastic bottles by recycling partners within the KLEAN ecosystem.
This new initiative is an addition to environmental sustainability efforts: Grab’s collaboration with KLEAN and MRANTI underlines the company’s commitment to transition from a double bottom line to a triple bottom line, taking into account the importance of the environment and its impact on communities.
“We seek to protect the environment as it is crucial towards building resilient small businesses and strong communities that can thrive for generations to come. We will continue to collaborate with government bodies, corporate partners, and policy makers through various programmes, to tackle the challenge of climate change. Together we want to create a sustainable future and provide easy ways for our consumers to make greener choices in everyday decisions,” said Hassan Alsagoff, Country Marketing Head of Grab Malaysia.
Grab has a series of features on its app that empowers consumers to make greener choices in everyday decisions, such as a cutlery toggle for consumers to opt out of receiving single-use plastics, and a carbon offset feature for consumers to purchase carbon offsets for their Grab rides. The company has since contributed to the planting of over 42,000 trees regionally, offsetting more than 2,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions through carbon credits, and reducing the use of more than 774 million sets of single-use cutlery in 2021.
“We applaud Grab Malaysia’s commitment to recover back and promote recycling of single-use plastic alongside its aim to partner locally,” said Joey Azman, Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of KLEAN. “With rising popularity of food and grocery deliveries, it is essential that we find ways to enable greater recycling of plastic waste – partnerships and initiatives from corporations like Grab can help rally communities to adopt greener practices and contribute to positive change. We hope other companies will join us in our mission to improve recycling habits of consumers through KLEAN’s own digital version of a ‘container deposit scheme’.”