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Scotland Inspires New Tomra Small-Footprint Reverse Vending Machine

BRENTFORD, London -- Scottish retailers have inspired the design of a new compact machine from global reverse vending leader Tomra . While visiting stores in Scotland, Tomra recognized that many retailers faced a challenge with space for reverse vending machines and also heard feedback from the industry as the Scottish government's deposit return scheme (DRS) began to gain momentum. In response to Scottish retailer feedback, Tomra is rolling the Tomra TM1 off the production line before the official laun...

December 18, 2019 by Emily Jed

BRENTFORD, London -- Scottish retailers have inspired the design of a new compact machine from global reverse vending leader Tomra.

While visiting stores in Scotland, Tomra recognized that many retailers faced a challenge with space for reverse vending machines and also heard feedback from the industry as the Scottish government's deposit return scheme (DRS) began to gain momentum.

In response to Scottish retailer feedback, Tomra is rolling the Tomra TM1 off the production line before the official launch of the DRS, expected in 2021.

"We are extremely proud of the Tomra M1 which was born out of visits to Scottish stores alongside retailers," said Truls Haug, managing director for Tomra Collection Solutions UK & Ireland. "It has been specially designed with smaller retailers in mind. We asked store owners about any concerns they had about participating in a deposit return scheme and there were two in particular -- space and cost. As a result, the Tomra M1 concept is space efficient; it can handle all three materials that are likely to be included in the Scottish DRS system -- glass, PET bottles and cans; and it does so for an affordable price."

Retailers got a sneak preview of the new machine at the recent Scottish Grocers' Federation Conference in Glasgow which attracted more than 400 delegates from across the industry.

Founded in 1972, Tomra provides reverse vending solutions for Clean Loop Recycling, collecting aluminum, plastic and glass beverage containers to be continually reused and recycled back into new bottles and cans. With more than 82,000 installations across more than 60 markets, Tomra says its reverse vending machines capture 40 billion used beverage containers every year toward a closed loop.