This Vending Machine In Istanbul Is Tackling Two of the City's Major Issues

by N/A, 10 years ago | 2 min read

Unknown to you and I, there's a growing homeless animal epidemic in Turkey, that over the past several years, has been rapidly worsening. The issue is centralized mainly in the country's capital and largest city, Istanbul, where an estimated 150,000 stray cats and dogs roam.

Fortunately, a charitable Turkish company,Â Pugedon, is choosing to do something about it, and the solution they came up with is absolutely ingenious.

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To help provide for the growing number of homeless cats and dogs in Turkey, Pugedon invented a vending machine that dispenses pet food and water for stray animals.

And while that's certainly admirable enough on its own, the ingenious part is that the 'currency' the vending machines require to provide the food and water is recycled plastic bottles.

So not only do they provide for homeless cats and dogs, as well as raise both local and country-wide awareness of the immense problem...

They also help significantly contribute to the large-scale environmental problems the country has as well, like rising pollution and an increasing number of landfills.

Animal activists attribute the ever-growing issue of strays to a key, cyclical problem, according toÂ DW.de: "Animal smugglers only face a fine of a few hundredÂ euros at worst, they continue to bring expensive pure-bred puppies and sell them to pet stores. People often buy the puppies from pet stores, and abandon them when they become too tough to handle."

That's what I call "killing two birds with one stone."

And Pugedon isn't slowing up any time soon.

They company is determined to install as many vending machines as they can afford, until enough awareness is raised to gain the support and funding that's so desperately to end the problem.