Gordon Tanoura, a 58-year-old Honolulu custodian, was the first person to use a new recycling machine at the Honolulu Municipal Building yesterday.

He even beat Mayor Mufi Hannemann to the punch, depositing five cans into a reverse vending machine that punched out a receipt.

Seconds later, he fed the receipt into an adjacent "instadeem" machine and got 25 cents — a nickel for each can.

Hannemann yesterday introduced the new "instadeem" machine, designed to give citizen recyclers a quick and easy payback.

"We want to encourage people to recycle," Hannemann said. "Please come and utilize this machine here. (It is) a snap to use.

"If we could recycle 80 percent of all sodas and bottles, that would reduce the solid waste going into our landfills by 50,000 tons" a year.

The machine is located at the King Street entrance of the building and offers speedy HI 5¢ can and bottle redemption. After inserting aluminum, glass and plastic containers into reverse vending machines, people receive paper receipts and may feed them into the adjacent instadeem machine to receive their money.

The machines provide a faster alternative than waiting for a clerk to weigh or count containers at other recycling centers around O'ahu. The instadeem machine will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

The instadeem at the Municipal Building is the only one in Hawai'i, and there are only eight others in the country, all in New York City. If they prove to be successful, Hannemann said he hopes to eventually place more around O'ahu.

Reynolds Recycling distributes the machines.

Receipts from other reverse vending machines on the island won't work in the Municipal Building instadeem machine, said Reynolds market development manager Bruce Iverson.

Iverson said he is confident the machine will carry sufficient cash to operate for a full day.