Refind Technologies battery takeback machine receives tryout in Norway

Retailer Coop Norway and battery maker Energizer have agreed to try out reverse vending machines for batteries that were developed by Sweden-based Refind Technologies.

The companies estimate that some 2,000 tonnes of household batteries are used each year in Norway, with many of them collected as “special waste.” However, a survey performed by YouGov for Coop Norway and Energizer found that as many as 26% of the country’s residents say they sometimes throw used batteries out with household waste.

“We are happy to try out this reverse vending machine in our Obs! stores in cooperation with Energizer,” says Geir Inge Stokke, concern manager of Coop Norway. He adds, “Coop is owned by its customers and we want to make it as simple as possible to make environmentally conscious choices. Norwegians are good at recycling, but can be better. Awareness is good as a motivational factor, but further incentives as a financial reward can be even more important.”

The reverse vending machine being deployed in the second quarter of 2017 is being tested in select Obs! stores around Oslo. The Refind Technologies machine allows customers to return “all types of household batteries in a similar way as a reverse vending machine for bottles,” says Refind in a press release. Customers will receive a discount of one Norwegian krone (€0.11) per battery in the form a discount coupon that can be used when buying new batteries.

“We are proud of the cooperation with Coop Norway about this great initiative enabling the awareness of and consumer motivation for battery recycling,” says Richard Podevin, head of Northwest Europe marketing at Energizer. “As the largest battery manufacturer in the world, we look at the entire life cycle of a battery, from production to waste.”

Comments Johanna Reimers, CEO of Refind Technologies, “This is one of the most fun and exciting projects we have been working with. We have worked with battery collectors and recyclers within the recycling chain, using our automatic recognition technology, but this is the first time we are working with a large producer. We hope that this can be an inspiration for everyone within battery recycling.”

Reimers says the reverse vending machine can have a positive effect, since the Norwegian population survey also found half of the participants answered that a payback structure would influence the amount of batteries they return.