Normally, vending machines suck in air to warm or cool the products they're selling. Japanese beverage giant Asahi is demonstrating they can simultaneously capture CO2. Inhaling the carbon dioxide that's exhaled by cars and people, a new type of vending machine is capable of storing the gas by locking it into an absorbent material until it can be processed centrally. Asahi is currently looking at converting captured CO2 into industrially useful raw materials such as fertilizer and concrete.
The CO2-munching machines will be trialed in the Kanto and Kansai regions starting June 2023, with a full rollout expected in 2024. Asahi is specifically targeting densely populated areas with high CO2 concentrations. While each machine's contribution might be modest, Asahi believes the cumulative effect — vending machines are omnipresent in Japan, after all — will have a significant environmental impact.
