Norwegian prime minister visits TOMRA headquarters for Innovation Norway speech

The prime minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, visited the global headquarters of  TOMRA FOOD for “Innovation Speech” ("Innovasjonstalen"), the yearly event for Innovation Norway. The prime minister’s contribution from TOMRA’s office in Asker, Norway, appeared as the first remote segment in this year’s digital event.  The Innovation Speech event seeks to provide innovation advice and insight to the political sphere, business and decision-makers. This year’s event focuses on green solutions, and a SWOT analysis of the transformation for Norwegian business and industry. For the feature at TOMRA, the prime minister spoke about the strengths Norway brings as the world gears up toward a green shift.  Innovation Norway is the Norwegian government's most important instrument for innovation and development of Norwegian enterprises and industry. The organization was seeking a successful green company in Norway with a global impact to host the prime minister’s contribution to the Innovation Speech event.  TOMRA is a global resource sustainability company, providing technology-led solutions that enable the circular economy, with advanced collection and sorting systems that optimize resource recovery and minimize waste in the food, recycling and mining industries. TOMRA has approximately 100,000 installations in over 80 markets worldwide, and in Norway is well known as the leading provider of reverse vending machines for recycling of empty drink containers.  During the visit to TOMRA, the prime minister met EVP and Head of TOMRA Collection Solutions, Harald Henriksen. The prime minister also had the opportunity to try out the company’s newest reverse vending innovation, TOMRA R1 with Express, which enables recyclers to pour over 100 bottles and cans into the machine in seconds. Express lets recyclers leave the TOMRA R1 while the machine is still processing the containers and receive their recycling refund electronically once complete, rather than waiting at the machine for their paper receipt. Trying new reverse vending innovation, TOMRA R1 with Express“We are honored to host the prime minister and Innovation Norway at TOMRA’s global headquarters in Asker for this year’s exciting event,” said Harald Henriksen. “Norway is a small country with great ambitions and a great spirit of innovation, as well as an international role model for sustainability and green initiatives. We hope Innovation Speech 2021 will drive even greater interest in what can be achieved together, for Norway and for the planet.”  About TOMRA Collection Solutions:Founded in 1972, TOMRA provides reverse vending solutions for Clean Loop Recycling, collecting aluminium, plastic and glass beverage containers to be continually reused and recycled back into new bottles and cans. With approximately 80,000 reverse vending machines across more than 60 markets, TOMRA captures over 40 billion used beverage containers every year toward a closed loop. This reduces reliance on raw materials, and ensures fewer containers end up in our streets, oceans and landfills. TOMRA’s machines, digital solutions and service make recycling easy for the industry, system owners, retailers and consumers to contribute to a more sustainable planet.