Tomra and Albertsons work together to collect containers

Tomra of North America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tomra Systems ASA announced an agreement with Albertsons to conduct a recycling pilot program to handle the return of beverage containers.

Under the program, Tomra of North America will place its UNO reverse vending systems at Albertsons’ Corona and Huntington Beach, California stores.

“Studies show that consumers who return empties during their shopping visit purchase up to 52 percent more than other shoppers,” said Greg Knoll, President and CEO, Tomra of North America. “When shoppers have containers to return, they tend to go to their local store with the best return solution. Up to 22 percent of consumers are willing to change where they shop if they find a store with a better container return solution.”

Despite having launched the pilot program only recently, both Tomra of North America and Albertsons are already planning the expansion of the program, with an objective to have machines installed in approximately 30 more stores by the end of the year. All machines will be launched under Albertsons’ environmental stewardship brand initiative ValuEarth™.

The UNO machines come equipped with technology to allow Tomra to access them remotely for repairs and preventative maintenance. In the event of a machine issue, the machines automatically send e-mail notifications for service. Tomra's patented recognition technology provides video recognition of inserted items, ensuring correct deposit refunds, the best protection against fraud.

Tomra has installed nearly 65,000 recycling systems and collects more than 30 billion used beverage containers through its recycling machines.