Tomra recycling system turns beverage bottles into treasure

In a supermarket in Norway, a spacious space near the entrance is often equipped with a special machine - this is the world-famous Tomra recycling system. Adults and children who enter the supermarket will stop here and put the waste bottles and cans into the round hole above the machine. A moment later, a coupon was issued from the printer's print port to print out the value of the bottles and cans. The deductible ticket takes effect immediately and you can withdraw it when you buy something.

At present, the use of Tomra recycling system in Europe, the United States and Japan is already quite common. The working principle of the Tomra recycling system is not complicated. The waste beverage bottles and cans are stuffed in from the round hole and immediately scanned by the laser device. The microprocessor compares the information with the stored bottle information and immediately identifies the various bottles. The type of can, or plastic, or glass, or metal. In the sorting device, they enter the respective containers. In order to reduce the volume of recycled items, the plastic is cut into small pieces and the aluminum cans are squashed to make the volume as small as possible for easy storage.

Tomra's invention dates back to the 1970s. The Norwegian, Peter, was working in the self-selected market industry and sold labeling machinery and equipment. Mr. Ikki, the top supermarket operator in Oslo, often complained that Peter said he was almost drowned by the waste bottle and had to find a better way to recycle. Peter said he was sorry that the company he worked for was only tagged and did not have this ability. But he soon told his brother Taue to let him think of a solution.

Tauer was a competent engineer who was involved in the development of the world’s first supertanker automated navigation system. After hearing the “bottle problem” proposed by Mr. Ickey, he used spare time to start seeking solutions. First, he met the self-selected market owner. The bosses slyly portrayed what they wanted: a machine with a hole dug in it, and the customer simply stuck the bottle in; it also had to print out the value of the item. The bottle-producer produces a set of specifications for the bottle for design purposes. Tauer and Peter quickly came up with design ideas and stated that the prototype machine needed 20,000 Norwegian kronor. The owner of the self-selected market did not wrinkle and agreed to save money. On January 2, 1972, the first Tomra recycling machine was launched at a supermarket in Iche, and by the end of the year, the number of recycling machines would have reached 29 units. Later, at the request of the Swedish wine oligarch Systembolaget, the production of a special model that was used in conjunction with its vending machines throughout the country was also a success.

In 1978, the new Tomra model used a new generation of bottle identification technology to further enhance its performance. The original phototubes used by Tomra's old models, despite their reliable operation, require the use of special machines for each type of bottle, which require manual correction and expensive maintenance. The introduction of microprocessors in the mid-1970s brought Tomra a gospel. In 1978, it introduced the first user-configurable recycling system. The new model widely used microprocessors, optical fibers and laser technology. Advanced methods. Its bottle identification system is based on electronically stored bottle data. Each bottle is jammed in. The machine identifies and compares the beverages immediately by identifying the beverage container. Whether its material has a deductible value and the corresponding value Make a disposition. It uses a graphical touch screen display that is very convenient for customers. Businesses can easily configure themselves based on the size of their store.

Very special, because it has a built-in modem, Tomra recycling systems installed throughout the world can be connected to the headquarters via the Internet. The bottles that were "eaten" by each machine were counted in real-time and aggregated in real-time to the information center of the headquarters and posted online. If you click on Tomra's website, there is a counter at the bottom right that shows the dynamic statistics of the new collection of waste beverage containers in the Tomra system worldwide. The advent of Tomra has played an important role in the recycling of beverage bottles and cans.

Source of information: pack.cn