Carrot decided to enter the UK market after a feasibility study grant from Nopef. Now British property managers are reducing waste and improving recycling with the Norwegian company’s data gathering and analysis solution.
“The world has a resource paradox. We are running out of resources but simultaneously send resources to landfills,” says Tine Charlotte Holm, the COO of Carrot AS. “Carrot was created to use data to help solve this waste problem.”
Carrot was established in 2017 in Bergen, Norway. It takes its name from the carrot-and-stick metaphor of rewards and punishments. Carrot’s cloud-based software accurately tracks waste, generating data that can be used to incentivise people to sort and recycle.
“We provide data and transparency to the value chain. You can use that data to reward sustainable behaviour,” Holm explains. “For instance, you can have a pay-as-you-throw system that charges for the amount of waste you send to landfill, just the way utilities charge for the amount of electricity you use. You are held accountable for the amount of waste you generate. The data could also be used to give incentives to people to recycle valuable materials like cardboard, aluminium or plastic.”
Carrot’s software is hardware agnostic and can be integrated into many waste management systems. It can be used with everything from a simple scale-up to high-tech smart bins and mobile applications.
The first version of the software was used by municipal waste companies to track residential waste and aggregate data across different types of infrastructure. They later expanded to offices and shopping centres. Carrot has had some great results in Norway. Vestkanten Storsenter shopping centre increased the sorting rate from 54% to 72%, and Bergen residences reduced residual waste by 9% and collected 28% more plastic for recycling. Carrot wondered if its solution would work in other markets, like the UK, but an overseas expansion was a risky step.
“One of our investors, Norselab, told us that another one of their companies had had great results working with Nopef and suggested we get in touch,” Holm says.
“We were interested in Carrot because they advance the circular economy and sustainable business models,” says Vanessa Salmela, Investment Officer at Nefco. “The main goal of the feasibility study was to see if their solution was right for the UK market, and, if so, to sign pilot projects in the office building and shopping centre property segments.”
The main activities of the feasibility study were research on the market, competitors, potential partners and customers, as well as on-site visits. About half of the total funding came from Nopef and half from Carrot.
“It is critical to go there in person and meet people face to face, so the Nopef funding really helped,” says Holm. “We also learned the importance of having a local partner to open doors, because the industry is close-knit. We knew the Norwegian market, but the UK is different.”
One challenge is the many different stakeholders. Carrot needs to convince the property owner, property manager and tenants that theirs is a valuable solution. Increased regulations, waste reporting and public demand for improved sustainability have helped to push UK companies to give Carrot a try. With the data, users can see exactly what benefits they are receiving in terms of money saved, waste saved and even CO2 emissions reduced.
Tine Charlotte Holm, COO of Carrot AS
The feasibility study began in 2023 and ended in April 2024, but even before the study was finalised, Carrot had signed pilot projects. Only six months later some of those pilots have become regular, paying customers.
“I am very pleased with how far we have come already, and the future looks bright,” Holm says. “We have a product that fits the UK market and now we are ready to really scale up.”
Holm says she has already mentioned Nopef to other entrepreneurs.
“There are other funding vehicles for aspects like technology R&D, but not for studying international expansion like Nopef offers,” she says. “If it wasn’t for the feasibility study, we would be slower and farther behind than we are now. These successful projects are important to show investors and other potential customers that the solution works.”
Text: David J. Cord
Carrot AS
2017
Norway
United Kingdom
Waste Management
Digitalisation, AI and data
Carrot’s software collects waste data on a tenant level, motivating companies and people to reduce their own waste. The solution can be used for pay-as-you-throw pricing models and to reward sorting and recycling of valuable materials.
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