Back in the good old days returning empty soft drinks bottles to shops for a thruppenny bit was the clever way to be green.

Decades later, Tesco is recycling the nostalgia of yesteryear by asking customers to bring back bottles and cans in return for clubcard points.

The supermarket giant is pioneering the "reverse vending" system in nine of its stores north of the Border in a bid to help the Scottish Government create a zero waste society.

The plans were unveiled yesterday by ministers attending the Scottish Waste and Resources Conference in Glasgow.

It is hoped that bringing in the system whereby shoppers will be asked to return everything from bottles to cans to the place where they purchased them will increase rates of recycling.

The rollout of the automated machines - which provide a reward to users for recycling their bottles and cans - will start in January with more planned depending on the scheme's success.

David North, community and government director for Tesco, said: "As a responsible retailer, we are committed to helping our customers adopt green habits.

"They've asked us to make recycling easier so this is what our new automated machines are designed to do."

Tesco's reverse vending machines use spectrometry and photography to identify what an object is made of before assigning it to the relevant bin. This means that recycling the waste is easier.

By shredding and compacting the waste the unit also saves fuel by reducing the number of vehicle journeys required to empty it.

The Tesco automated recycling machines can deal with most household waste including aluminium, steel, plastics and glass.

Tesco stores earmarked for the automated machines include Alloa, Glasgow Shettleston, Glasgow Silverburn, Dalkeith, South Queensferry, Port Glasgow, Irvine, Ayr and Perth.

The announcement comes on the same day that new recycling figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) show a 3.3% improvement from the previous year.

Ministers said they are on track to meet their target of having councils recycle or compost 40% of all waste by 2010.

Speaking at the waste conference, Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said he was delighted to see that Tesco shared his vision of a "zero waste Scotland".

"Reverse vending has terrific potential to improve our rates of recycling and evidence from Scandinavia and Canada shows that it has reaped real rewards," said Mr Lochhead.

"This week can be considered a genuine landmark in Scotland's push to become zero waste.

"Not only do we have the Tesco initiative, but today's recycling figures show a 3.3% increase on the same time last year, taking us to 31.7%, which is a great leap forward.

"In addition, the latest figures also indicate that waste growth has stopped, in line with our target, and I also understand we are fast approaching the sale of the 200,000th composting bin in Scotland.

"These latest moves reflect well on both local authorities and individuals, but there is no room for complacency and we need to push on even further.

"We all have a role to play in ensuring Scotland becomes a cleaner, greener place and dealing with our waste responsibly is a huge part of that."

Kenny Boag, head of the Sepa waste unit, said: "To reach the next target of 40% by 2010 will place responsibilities on everyone in Scotland to take part, and change some of our habits and the choices we make that so often lead to unnecessary waste production.

"It is important that we all accept that this is not just an issue for the local authorities and we all have a role to play."