According to the World Bank, in 2050, there’ll be about 3.40 billion tonnes of waste generated across the world – that’s an extra 1.39 billion tonnes since 20161! Needless to say, finding ways to reduce waste is becoming urgent if we want to fight against climate change. One easy thing we can all do to protect the environment is recycle and many people are already doing it – yourself may even do it on a daily basis. But let’s be honest, there are still many things we could do to make recycling easier and more effective and this is exactly the mission of TOMRA. The recycling company wants to optimise the world’s resources and help build a circular economy where waste is eradicated, products and materials remain in use, and natural systems are regenerated.
Our Ethical Investment Plans include TOMRA, which is held in the Stewart Investors Worldwide Fund.
The finance stuff 📈
Company value: £4.7bn
Share price: £31.70
2019 Profits: £73.3m
What does TOMRA do? 🤷
Founded in 1972, TOMRA is committed to ending waste across the globe. To do so, the organisation has launched many innovative concepts and products to encourage more people to recycle better. Today, the company employs around 4,500 people and operates in over 80 different countries.
TOMRA is a global leader in automated waste sorting - this involves sorting metals for recycling, and waste for energy recovery. The organisation has around 6,500 waste sorting units globally and is particularly known for its reverse vending machines where customers can recycle beverage containers and get their money back. That’s not all as TOMRA also provides sensor-based sorting solutions to help sort fresh and processed foods– there are around 11,000 food sorting stations in the world2.
What positive impact is TOMRA having? 🌱
TOMRA Collection Solutions products and services, including its reverse vending machines, contribute to about 4 million tons in avoided CO2 emissions3 and the company’s sorting technology has been adapted for use in the material separation process of various industrial minerals and ore, improving efficiency and reducing energy usage.
In addition to building a wasteless world, TOMRA is part of the New Plastics Economy Initiative, spearheaded by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. The initiative includes businesses, governments and scientists who are working hard to find solutions to accelerate the transition away from plastics. The main objectives of the project are the creation of an improved after-use plastics economy and the reduction of leakage of plastics into natural systems. TOMRA joined the Initiative back in January 2017 with a focus on harnessing its technology and market-leading skillset to help deliver plastic sorting capabilities4.
What TOMRA has to say 📣
“TOMRA has experienced significant growth in recent years, and with that growth a corresponding increase in the company’s net positive environmental impact. However, growth in operations and market expansion also means broader risk exposure, both related to TOMRA’s direct environmental footprint and its supply chain.
In recognition of that, TOMRA has in 2019 taken steps to further strengthen capabilities and capacity to safeguard sustainability in every aspect of the business with the establishment of a group level sustainability function5. TOMRA considers sustainability to be an integrated part of the strategy and is therefore organised with a direct reporting line between the Sustainability Director and Head of Group Strategy in order to embed sustainability in all strategy and business development, including planning for future growth.
What Stewart Investors think… 🤓
“Through its 82,000 Reverse Vending Machines in over 60 markets, TOMRA facilitates the collection of 40 billion drinks containers for recycling, saving these bottles and cans from ending up as litter or in landfills. Its metal recycling business recovers 715,000 tons of metal a year and its sorting machines reduce energy consumption in mining by 15%.
Its sorting technology inspects and sorts millions of individual product pieces per hour, enhancing customer efficiency, increasing quality, yield and safety while reducing waste.
With the circular economy at the heart of its business model, TOMRA is well placed to benefit from sustainability tailwinds associated with increasing demand for better recycling infrastructure.
The recycling sector is growing quickly with further growth opportunities coming from entering new markets, particularly emerging markets like India and China.
Management are aligned, conservative and have a sensible attitude to debt. Their entrepreneurial attitude enables them to continue pioneering innovative solutions and complementary technologies.”
References:
1: https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/
2: https://www.tomra.com/en/about-us/tomra-at-a-glance
3: https://www.tomra.com/en/collection/reverse-vending/why-tomra
Please remember the value of your investments can go down as well as up, and you could get back less than invested.
