Free-standing parking lot recycling centers placed by Tomra North America have opened at three Wal-Mart Supercenters in Florida.
The RePlanet recycling facilities are located at Wal-Mart stores in Vero Beach, Melbourne, and West Melbourne, Fla. The kiosks accept aluminum cans and plastic beverage containers through four Tomra “reverse vending” machines that scan the shape of containers inserted into the machine, calculate the proper redemption value, and then print a receipt that is exchanged for cash inside the adjacent Wal-Mart store. Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, has agreed to recycle all aluminum beverage containers accepted.
“More than 192 billion aluminum, glass, and plastic beverage containers are consumed each year – with a growing number being consumed away from the home where there are few recycling options available,” says Bob Lincoln, executive vice president for Tomra North America, Stratford, Conn. “With the support of Wal-Mart and Anheuser-Busch, we hope to make recycling a ubiquitous and enjoyable experience.”
Each Wal-Mart RePlanet center contains four machines capable of accepting unsorted cans and plastic bottles at the rate of 60 units per minute. Powered by electro-optical recognition technology, the Tomra machines house internal cameras that take pictures at the rate of 25 per second, recognizing and counting each container. The machine then computes the redemption value and provides a receipt redeemable for cash in the adjacent Wal-Mart store.
More than 45,000 Tomra reverse vending machines are deployed around the world, according to Tomra Systems ASA, the Norwegian-based parent company of Tomra North America.