A recycling facility operator and a robotics company say artificial intelligence is providing materials recovery firms with much-needed data to analyze changes in the recycling stream. That’s in addition to sortation improvements.
A recycling facility operator and a robotics company say artificial intelligence is providing materials recovery firms with much-needed data to analyze changes in the recycling stream. That’s in addition to sortation improvements.
A tight labor market, aging equipment, an evolving ton and difficult recyclables markets have spurred a Michigan county to upgrade its MRF. Robots are among the technologies to be installed.
A Florida company leveraging 14 robotic sorters is among the first recycling facilities to use the technology on fiber lines, boosting the value of paper bales.
A West Coast operator installed four artificial intelligence units at its high-tech San Francisco MRF. A company manager explained how the machinery is working in conjunction with optical sorters to boost recovery and reduce contamination.
AMP Robotics is training its AI-powered camera system to identify fuel tanks and batteries on conveyor belts, so the system can alert MRF staff to the hazards.
By tweaking existing equipment, materials recovery facilities could reduce the amount of flexible film packaging landing in their fiber bales, an industry study concluded.
A startup won money and media attention for its recycled plastic gravel, but some readers are concerned the product could cause more environmental harm than simply landfilling the scrap plastic.
At least 60 organizations are working to scale up depolymerization, pyrolysis and other emerging plastic processing methods. The North American market for the resulting products could top $100 billion annually.