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Applications + Knowledge
| News for Factory Automation 1/2016
Growing
a Green Future
How a joint venture between the Norwegian reverse vending machine
manufacturer, TOMRA, and the Mannheim-based automation company,
Pepperl+Fuchs, is making the future greener
Grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge – an everyday scene. But
what happens after the beverage packaging is empty? The journeys
taken by packaging – be it glass, plastic, or tin – are many and varied.
The bottles start at the production environment and continue to the
filling room. From there, they move on to a central warehouse and into
the stores. Once the bottles are empty, the consumers bring them
back to a reverse vending machine. Who actually came up with the
idea for such an ingenious return system?
From a Rural Shed to the Global Market
It is more than 40 years since a Norwegian shop owner in a suburb of
Oslo expressed a desire for a machine that can collect empty bottles
in a simple, efficient, and customer-friendly manner. This idea inspired
the two brothers Petter and Tore Planke to develop a reverse vending
machine.
The industrial adventure of the Norwegian world market leader, TOMRA,
started in a small shed in Asker, Norway. Today, reverse vending
machines remain the company’s most profitable business area.
Thanks to organic growth and various strategic business acquisitions,
TOMRA has become a leading global player in the field of recycling
and sorting technology for the mining and food industries. The
Scandinavian company provides supermarkets in over 80 countries
with sensor-based solutions for optimal resource productivity through
reverse vending machines, collection systems, and sorting solutions
that facilitate the effective reuse of drinks packaging. Posting an annual
turnover of NOK 5 billion (approx. EUR 517 million) and employing a
staff of over 2,500, TOMRA’s sustainable recycling products are instru-
mental to guaranteeing a viable, greener future.
For more than 15 years, Tomra and Pepperl+Fuchs have pursued this
“green path” together. Both the family business from Mannheim and
the specialist in reverse vending machines, which is still based in
Asker today, are driven by innovation.
A Little Piece of Pepperl+Fuchs
in Every Reverse Vending Machine
While Tomra invented the bottle detection technology, each of its
reverse vending machines uses sensor technology developed by
the Mannheim-based automation company: in all aspects of the
material handling, as well as the subsequent sorting solutions.
“Pepperl+Fuchs is involved in detecting various types of packaging
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