Veolia has installed an AI-powered robot arm in a material recovery facility at its Bibra Lake Resource Recovery Park in Western Australia.
The company says it is the first time a technology of its kind has been deployed in Australia’s resource recovery sector.
The system can sort seven different types of plastic with a claimed 95 percent accuracy rate and process materials two to three times faster than traditional methods.
Doing so significantly boosts the recycling rate and also enhances workplace safety through automation.
The Bibra Lake facility robot will focus on separating PET plastics, used in many drink containers, and mixed coloured plastics.
Initially, the picking accuracy rate is around 80 percent, but with further testing and the input of a human operator to review its effectiveness, the accuracy rate is expected to rapidly rise to more than 95 percent.
This machine learning aspect of it means that it will be able to detect and sort new forms of plastic products and packaging as they are introduced.
Use cases of this technology overseas have shown that a single robot arm placed at the end of a sorting facility, known as the last chance line, has successfully boosted resource recovery rates by 40 to 70 percent.
“This technology represents a game-changing solution for Western Australia’s recycling challenges, especially in a rapidly expanding resource recovery sector,” Veolia ANZ CEO Richard Kirkman says.
“As a fast-growing sector where labour shortages are becoming increasingly common, it was inevitable that automated technology, which can recognise and sort materials for recycling at speed, would become part of Veolia’s world-leading resource recovery facilities.”
Kirkman adds that apart from boosting recycling rates and accelerating the diversion of more waste away from landfills, it also offers operators a way to track the quality and quantity of the resources recovered at a higher level of detail in real time, with instant reporting of those numbers.
“It is in these repetitive processes, where machines can learn through AI and be guided by human intervention, that smart tech can be most useful, especially in Veolia’s world-leading resource recovery facilities and our rapidly expanding sector,” Kirkman adds.
Veolia says the technology is being introduced as part of its global Green Up strategy, which has Australia in the spotlight as a key region to invest in building the circular economy of the future.
The choice to debut this technology in Western Australia comes at a time when plastic recycling in the state is starkly low.
According to the latest National Waste Report figures, Western Australia’s recycling rate of 6.9 percent lags behind the national average of 12.5 percent, with more than 90 percent of plastic waste still going to landfill.
Nationally, the quantity of plastic waste generated in Australia has increased by 12 percent from 2.66Mt to 2.99Mt, while the population has only increased by 8 percent.
“These recycling rates in Australia demand immediate action. This is simultaneously an environmental issue, a waste issue, a consumption issue and an economic issue,” Kirkman says.
“Our AI-powered system, running on renewable energy harvested from our Bibra Lake facility, delivers both environmental and economic benefits, transforming waste into valuable resources while significantly reducing our carbon footprint.”
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