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AMP ROBOTICS PARTNERSHIP IMPROVES HAZARD DETECTION IN THE RECYCLABLES STREAM
AMP Robotics is working with The Happy Beetle, a doorto-door recycling subscription service, to improve the detection and diversion of hazardous materials found in the waste stream.
When not properly recycled or disposed of, items like propane tanks, pressurized containers, batteries, and other electronics can cause safety issues including fires, explosions, worker injuries, and damage to processing equipment at recycling facilities. The Happy Beetle collects these and other difficult-to-recycle materials that cannot be placed in curbside recycling bins and works with businesses and nonprofits to repurpose or recycle them.
AMP’s AI enables its robotic sorting systems to identify individual pieces of material like a person does. It learns logos, shapes, textures, and more. It can also recognize and pick a full array of materials found in the recycling stream – even items that do not belong. Using deep learning, the platform gets smarter and more accurate in its identification over time, and its intelligence compounds as it learns from the company’s fleet.
“Partnering with a local recycler like The Happy Beetle who shares our commitment to a circular economy enables us to source samples of rare hazardous materials to train and improve our neural network so we can stay ahead of the potential danger they pose to the operating environments of our materials recovery facility customers,” says Amanda Marrs, senior director of product at AMP Robotics.
NOVELIS TO BUILD $365 MILLION RECYCLING CENTRE
Novelis will invest $365 million to build a highly advanced recycling centre for automotive manufacturing in North America which is expected to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by more than one million tons each year. The new recycling facility will be built adjacent to Novelis’ existing automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, Kentucky.
Through closed-loop recycling, the company takes back the aluminum remaining after automotive parts are stamped from sheets and remakes it into the same product for new vehicle production. The centre will also have the capability to process aluminum from vehicles at the end of their life cycle.
MICROSOFT AND POWER KNOT DEVELOP WORLD’S FIRST SOLARPOWERED BIODIGESTER
Power Knot and Dubai Creative Group have collaborated with Microsoft Dubai to create what the company says is the first solar-powered biodigester in the world. The LFC biodigester is a machine that digests food waste, creating an output that can then be used as a plant-organic fertilizer. These machines are usually installed in commercial kitchens and reduce the expense, inconvenience, mess, and carbon footprint that comes from disposing waste food that would otherwise be hauled to a landfill. Power Knot offers 10 different sizes of biodigesters that digest between 9 kilograms (20 pounds) per day to 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) per day of food waste. Additionally, all LFC biodigesters automatically connect to Power
Knot’s continuous data analytics system which shows statistics on usage, diagnostics, and service schedules, and can be accessed from any device. The LFC biodigester uses this system to securely send data about its operation to the server where users can then easily create reports for stakeholders.
Toter’s new EVR-Green cart body is made of 100 percent recycled material. Manufactured with a variety of recycled materials and entirely without the use of virgin resin, the two-wheeled cart is, according to Toter, the first fully recycled cart body and fully recyclable cart on the market.
EVR-Green’s roto-molded design optimizes impact strength and performance, while also eliminating the built-in stress, weakness and brittleness associated with injection-molded waste receptacles. The cart, which features material upcycled from old carts, will initially be available in black with structural capabilities like sealed stop bar journals and granite finish.
While the cart body is made of 100 percent recycled material, the lid and wheels will initially contain recycled content as Toter works to eventually offer the lid and wheels in a fully recycled form.
BLS REPORT SHOWS DECREASE IN SOLID WASTE COLLECTION WORKER FATALITIES IN 2020
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the 2020 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries showing refuse and recyclable materials collection remains the sixth deadliest occupation in the United States, though total collection worker fatalities continue to decline. Solid waste collection saw a reduction in workplace fatalities in 2020, with 38 collection employee deaths. This continues a downward trend from 57 in 2018 and 43 in 2019.
Fatalities at material recovery facilities increased slightly from three in 2019 to four in 2020. Solid waste landfills saw six fatalities in 2020, while BLS recorded none in the previous year. According to data collected by SWANA, however, at least two landfill workers were killed on the job in 2019. Regardless, this portion of the industry saw a steady decline over the previous five years.
Notably, the BLS fatality census does not report any illness-related information, including COVID-19 infections.
E-WASTE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSITION TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
To minimize the amount of e-waste in landfills worldwide, electronics need to be reused, recycled, or refurbished. Companies such as Clean Earth are taking initiatives to recycle electronics in a way that promotes a circular economy while safeguarding users’ private data.
For more on this story, turn to page 28.
ETRACKS SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY PLATFORM TO IMPROVE ONTARIO TIRE RECYCLING
eTracks Tire Management Systems has launched its Sustainable Recovery Platform (eSRP) to over 6,500 Ontario tire collection sites, 100 service providers, and over 50 producers. As a not-for-profit organization, eTracks provides Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) services to the Ontario tire manufacturing industry by managing their end-oflife tire recycling obligations under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act (RRCEA). eSRP’s development was spurred by the need for better data and insights into where, how, and what becomes of recyclable materials put into market, and how much of that material is made into new products. eSRP will help to improve the way producers and PROs are able to manage recyclable materials and regulatory compliance and drive a sustainable circular economy.
LI-CYCLE TO BUILD ITS FIRST LITHIUM-ION BATTERY RECYCLING FACILITY OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA
Li-Cycle has formed a joint venture with ECO STOR and Morrow Batteries to construct a new commercial lithium-ion battery recycling facility in southern
Norway. Once constructed, the Norwegian Spoke will be
Li-Cycle’s first recycling facility outside of North America and is expected to have the capacity to process up to 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries per year, including battery manufacturing scrap, full EV packs, and energy storage systems. The initiative brings Li-Cycle’s total expected global recycling capacity to 40,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery input per year.
The facility is expected to be operational in early 2023.
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RUBICON ACQUISITION OF CIVIX EXPANDS SOFTWARE OFFERING FOR WASTE AND RECYCLING FLEETS
Rubicon Technologies has acquired CIVIX, a routing software and solutions company. The acquisition expands and enhances the routing capabilities of Rubicon’s RU-
BICONSmartCity and RUBICONPro, while also helping to drive
Rubicon’s growth into additional international markets.
CIVIX is the developer of FleetRoute route optimization and strategic planning software for data collection, in-cab navigation, dispatching, tracking, performance monitoring, and messaging. FleetRoute’s geographic information system and cloud-based route optimization software is used to solve complex high-density routing problems through advanced network algorithms developed specifically for the municipal services, utility, and street surveying industries.
RUBICONSmartCity is a cloud-based technology suite that helps city governments run more effective waste, recycling, and heavy-duty municipal fleet operations. RUBICONSmartCity helps ensure every resident’s trash and recycling is collected on their scheduled day, meaning no missed pickups. It also documents litter, bulky waste, and illegal dumping with photos, thus ensuring that these piles are cleaned up in a timely manner.
NEW USCC STUDY OUTLINES FINANCING PLATFORMS FOR COMPOST BUSINESSES
Anew USCC white paper identifies grant funding and other financing mechanisms for the growing U.S. compost manufacturing industry and makes recommendations for entrepreneurs and policymakers on expanding and using these methods.
Financing Industrial Composting Facilities: Challenges and Opportunities outlines equity, debt financing, grants, public-private partnerships, bonds, and new types of funding to give compost manufacturing businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs a blueprint for financing options. The paper also includes recommendations for ways to ease the barriers to entry through various financing arrangements, as well as appendices that detail pros and cons of the various financing methods.
U.S. PAPER INDUSTRY REACHES RECORD FOR CONTAINERBOARD PRODUCTION IN 2021
The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) has released preliminary 2021 data from U.S. paper and paperboard mills indicating record containerboard production, much of which is made from recycled fibres. The data indicates total containerboard production in 2021 increased 5.6 percent compared to 2020, the ninth increase in the past 10 years.
OCC consumption is strongly tied to production of containerboard, and through November 2021 consumption already reached 22.2 million tons, just shy of the previous full-year record set in 2020. Paper recycling rates have grown over time and remain consistently high, meeting or exceeding 63 percent since 2009. In 2020, nearly 66 percent of paper was recycled.
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