Amazon-backed Glacier has installed AI sorting at Penn Waste’s York County MRF with support from Cox Enterprises, aiming to boost PET capture in Pennsylvania. | Photo courtesy Glacier
Glacier, the Amazon-backed AI and robotics company, has installed its sorting technology at Penn Waste’s MRF in York County, Pennsylvania, in a project supported by Cox Enterprises that aims to lift plastic recovery and improve fiber quality for mills.
Penn Waste, a Waste Connections company, operates a large single-stream MRF with processing capacity of up to 45 tons per hour following past upgrades, positioning the site to integrate additional automation on its fiber line.
Glacier says its compact system uses computer vision to identify more than 70 material types, from PET and aluminum to items such as toothpaste tubes and it frequently achieves about 45 picks per minute in live operations. The company says units install in less than a day and provide real-time commodity and composition data.
Preliminary results at Penn Waste indicate the technology is capturing more recyclable material for beneficial reuse, reducing landfill disposal and improving the quality of recovered paper, according to the companies. The system is being applied on the fiber line to help boost capture of PET and OCC while delivering cleaner feedstock to mills, a priority for producers facing tight specifications.
“MRFs don’t have the luxury of waiting years for a solution to prove itself,” said Rebecca Hu-Thrams, CEO and co-founder of Glacier. “Over the last year, we’ve doubled the amount of live units because operators see immediate value: higher recovery rates, cleaner material quality, and the confidence that our robots work anywhere, in any season.”
Cox Enterprises backed the installation to help support recycling improvements tied to Cox Automotive operations in the region, including the Manheim used vehicle auction chain. “Manheim’s rich history in Pennsylvania makes this especially meaningful to Cox, and our commitment to advancing the circular economy here is unwavering,” said Amit Vyas, vice president of environmental sustainability at Cox Enterprises. “By partnering with Glacier and Waste Connections at the Penn Waste facility, we are strengthening the recycling infrastructure our communities rely on, and also setting the standard for keeping valuable materials in circulation while driving real, lasting impact for the region.”
Waste Connections said the addition aligns with its broader focus on recovery and safety. “We are pleased to integrate Glacier’s advanced AI sorting system into our Penn Waste facility and to continually raise the standard for recycling technology, benefitting our customers, communities and the environment,” said Kyle Byler, division vice president at Waste Connections.
Glacier said the Penn Waste project helps cap a year in which it doubled the number of live robots and now helps process recycling streams for about one in 10 Americans, with recent deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle. Trade coverage this spring also highlighted a Seattle rollout tied to the company’s recent funding round.
The company’s backers include Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund.
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