Reverse Vending Machines
by TOMRA Systems

TOMRA Systems ASA (TOMRA) was founded in Norway in 1972 on an innovation involving the design, manufacture, and sale of reverse vending machines for the automated collection of used beverage containers for recycling. When used drink cans and glass/plastic bottles are placed in a reverse vending machine, they are instantly collected and sorted from other waste. This makes it possible to recycle the material into high-quality drink containers repeatedly without contamination by impurities from other types of waste. TOMRA calls it Clean Loop Recycling. As the number of containers collected through reverse vending machines increases, resource recycling will progress. This will in turn reduce the waste of global resources, the risk of marine pollution, and the volume of greenhouse gas emissions.

TOMRA’s reverse vending machines automate a series of processes not only for identifying, sorting, and storing used beverage containers but also for granting privileges to end users. These machines are becoming more and more commonplace, especially in regions where there is a deposit return system that refunds money to users when they return their drinks containers for recycling.

In order to provide end users with a satisfactory error-free recycling experience without keeping them waiting, a large number and variety of containers must be identified at speeds as high as about 1 bottle a second, and the shapes and the barcodes must be read without error. That means built-in cameras are required to capture these objects at high speed not only in high resolution but also with less video noise.