Situated outside a Kroger in Arlington, TX, is a new structure that resembles a slimmed down drive-thru restaurant or the world’s longest ATM. It’s actually the first of Coca-Cola’s “Reimagine” recycling machines that allows customers to dump aluminum cans and #1 PET plastic containers in all at the same time.

From Forbes.com:

Unlike other recycling centers where you have to feed items into a machine one by one, self-contained Reimagine units accept bottles and cans in bulk. And like a Coinstar for spent bottles and cans, Reimagine tallies up and rewards you for each item recycled, thanks to a conveyor belt and optical scanner system that also sorts and crushes items. With points racked up through Reimagine, recyclers can donate funds to local schools through the My Coke Rewards Program or enter to win a sweepstakes.

A statement on the Reimagine site says the company is hoping to add more of these units to shopping centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the coming months, and that it will look at the data in early 2011 to figure out future plans for expansions.

Would something like this be a good thing for your neighborhood?

Coca-Cola “Reimagines” Recycling [Forbes.com]

Reimagine Beverage Containers [Reimagine Recyling]

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