Challenge

Taiwanese citizens knew recycling mattered, yet founder Li Han-yang noticed something puzzling in 2017: roadside recycling bins often remained empty.

The problem was not necessarily apathy. Recycling offered little immediate feedback. A person could sort a bottle correctly and never see what happened next, what difference it made or why they should return with another.

Manual collection also made individual actions difficult to track, while inconsistent sorting reduced the quality of recovered materials. Recycling needed to become easier, more visible and worth repeating.

Solution

ECOCO borrowed an idea from video games: reward people the moment they act.

Users deposit empty PET bottles, cans or batteries into an automated machine and immediately receive points. These can be exchanged for vouchers from participating businesses, giving each returned item a visible value.

The first machine was installed in 2018 in the city where the company began. By September 2025, ECOCO had deployed 890 machines across shops, schools and public spaces in 15 cities and counties. Its network includes 70 partner brands, such as FamilyMart and Milksha.

Optical sensors identify and sort accepted materials, while every deposit is recorded. This gives ECOCO and its partners a clearer picture of what is collected and where. The sorted materials are then sold to certified recyclers, improving their chances of returning to the economy as useful resources, eliminating risks of data holes and blackwashing.

The model gives everyone a reason to participate. Consumers earn rewards, businesses engage customers, recyclers receive cleaner materials and organisations gain environmental data. Revenue from machine leasing and sales, recyclable materials and data services keeps the cycle moving. Between FY2022 and FY2024, ECOCO’s annual revenue grew by more than 600 per cent.

Impact

Between January 2024 and January 2026, ECOCO grew from 246 to 890 machines and recorded 3.1 million recycling interactions. Its membership reached 255,000 people.

Users returned more than 58 million bottles and cans, along with 39,000 kilograms of batteries. ECOCO reports a cumulative reduction of 7,578 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

What comes back is also cleaner. Materials collected through the machines consistently achieved purity above 90 per cent, compared with a cited Taiwanese market average of 72 per cent. Higher-quality material is easier to recycle, helping old packaging become feedstock rather than waste.

Rewards have generated more than NT$100 million in consumer spending, with a reported redemption conversion rate of 58 per cent. Partner brands recorded an average monthly revenue increase of 20.96 per cent after adopting the system, showing how environmental action can support commercial value.

ECOCO’s model has also entered Taiwan’s Grade 5 curriculum, introducing children to the circular economy through a system they may encounter in everyday life and embedding circular economy principles into the next generation.

Future Outlook

ECOCO plans to extend its machines across all PX Mart stores by the end of 2026 and grow its community to one million members. It is also developing larger, fully automated “Recycling Ark” sites that can operate around the clock.

Thailand and Malaysia are being assessed as potential first overseas markets. By 2030, ECOCO aims to operate in at least three Asian markets and help partners achieve more than 50,000 tonnes of cumulative carbon reduction.

Its larger ambition is simple: bring a resource back, see its value and make the next return just as easy.