Tomra Systems

Decomposer organisms return nutrients to ecosystems; Tomra's 113,700 reverse vending machines across 100 markets return containers to material streams, generating EUR 1.348 billion in 2024 revenue by making recycling economically viable at scale. The company's Collection segment contributes over 50% of revenue and 60% of EBITDA through automated bottle and can redemption—infrastructure that captures value from waste streams the way fungi extract nutrients from dead organic matter. Sensor-based sorting technology extends the decomposer analogy across Recycling (plastics, metals, e-waste, paper) and Food (grading fresh produce and proteins) segments, using optical sensors, X-ray, near-infrared spectroscopy, and AI to identify and separate materials at processing speeds that make human sorting economically obsolete. The business model is fundamentally about inserting mechanical sensing into circular material flows: container deposit schemes in Austria (January 2025) and Poland (October 2025) create new reverse vending markets, while food division revenue grew 16% in Q1 2025 as agricultural processors adopt automated quality grading. Founded in 1972 with Norwegian roots, Tomra holds dominant market position approximately ten times larger than nearest competitors in reverse vending, maintaining over 20% EBITDA margins through recurring service revenue (20% of Collection segment) and proprietary sensor technology that compounds advantages. Like mycorrhizal fungi that thrive by colonizing root systems across entire forests, Tomra's machines establish infrastructure networks that become difficult to displace once deposit systems and sorting facilities build around their specifications. The company's growth tracks regulatory expansion—each new bottle deposit law or recycling mandate creates addressable market for machines that turn waste management from cost center into value recovery system.