An expert panel discussion on the topic of AI-powered recycling has considered the potential of digital technologies for driving “better”, more efficient performance via effective implementation plans.
The talks formed part of a webinar hosted by MRW on 23 September that was held in association with technology group EverestLabs.
MRW editor Neil Merrett hosted the webinar as a means to discuss core considerations linked to system adoption and effectively implementing AI tools for managing tasks such as sorting and waste stream analysis. The event covered how a growing number of tools and services are being developed across the sector and looked at how operations can use these systems.
You can view a full video of the event in the player below to hear from the expert speakers about the practical considerations and what the adoption of AI tools might mean for recycling operations:
Ambitions for AI integration
The event was divided into two sections, with the first being a panel discussion hearing views on the impact of both existing and future developments of digital tools to address the pressing challenges of material loss and recycling efficiency.
For the opening session, the webinar heard from EverestLabs founder and chief strategy officer JD Ambati, and WRAP senior specialist Adam Herriott. The speakers discussed broader developments around industry adoption and ambitions for AI integration.
Adam Herriott opened the event by defining efforts underway across the sector to look at how AI tools might inform a ‘better’ recycling process.
He argued that there was an increasing range of AI tools designed to support recycling and resource management that extended beyond process automation. This included opportunities for material stream analysis and informing supply chain developments.
He said: “There’s lots of stuff around data that I think is quite exciting, looking at better packaging design.”
Herriott said this potential could give a better understanding for operators of the impacts recycling processes have on packaging as products pass through systems. It might also help inform planning around the shape, design and labelling of certain products with the aim of limiting material loss, he said.
Another potential impact of AI integration discussed during the session was based on helping to manage more challenging materials and waste streams at MRF sites.
Rethinking the MRF site
Herriott, who previously worked as a MRF recycling manager before joining WRAP, said the emergence of AI technologies and services could also help operators meet their legal obligations concerning manual sampling.
He argued that effective implementation should address specific issues concerning understanding or compiling data, as opposed to looking at more blanket adoption.
The webinar noted that the Environment Agency has no barrier on using AI technologies for materials facility sampling. An update from the regulator last year said operators were required to demonstrate their sampling methodology and the effectiveness of its results, regardless of the technology used.
Another topic of the discussion was the range of AI technologies and tools being developed for the recycling and resource management sector. This required strategic thinking about specific challenges facing operators, added Herriott.
He said: “I think, for me, the important thing is to think, ‘what challenge am I trying to fix, and can AI help it?’”
He argued that this was a preferable approach to blanket adoption. “I think we need to make sure you are clear on what you need to fix and how it can help” he said.
Opportunities posed by integrating AI tools, beyond automation within recycling plants, include the potential to use operational data from sites and across supply chains to understand how certain materials or products are processed.
Herriott said: “[So] what’s happening to material, or what material isn’t going to the place we thought it should be, and why is that? Is that because it’s a certain shape, or a colour or design? Is it because there is a wrap around it.”
“It could be, as well, help understanding on how much of a material is going into a recycling system, versus how much is not making it to the recycling system. “
Herriott argued this data could help better understand consumer behaviour and whether education might improve the quality and amount of materials recovered.
Data focus
JD Ambati said he saw more noteworthy potential for using AI tools in recycling in offering detailed insights and guidance derived from complex operational data. This could help operators capture the highest value of materials, while lowering costs. Another potential benefit was to help bolster the skills of existing operators, said Ambati.
“It’s not about replacing people, it’s not about running dark plants without any people. It’s about how do you take information in real-time and optimise your processes and operations to increase recovery,” he said.
Ambati said another key point of promotion for many AI companies was to limit potentially billions of dollars in annual revenue being lost due to recyclable materials being consigned to landfill or energy recovery and incineration.
When asked about how AI tools could impact the design and operation of MRFs and recycling sites over the next decade, he said: “The new plants that are coming online will have AI built into the development phase itself. They will have AI cameras, hardware and software throughout the process from the start to finish.”
Ambati added: “Now It’s almost a given that they will be used in new plants, with AI included in a project from day one.”
UK perspective
Adam Herriott said projects integrating AI systems into MRFs and other forms of recycling facility were underway across the UK. These included integration into existing operations as well as in new developments.
He cited one such example as the facility operated by Sherbourne Recycling in Coventry, owned by eight local authorities in the West Midlands. Herriott said: “I think there is about five people working at that plant that are all engineers making sure everything is ticking along rather than anything else.”
The discussion also touched on issues that ongoing digital developments might pose from a workforce and skills perspective. Herriott said there would be the potential to help staff with making decisions on specific operations and ensuring effective maintenance.
He added that case studies already existed where AI tools and systems were helping identify issues around efficiency and performance degradation before they can result in more significant disruption.
The scope of some AI systems and tools to identify operational issues at an early stage, along with material composition, was likely to be particularly important development in the sector, said Herriott.
He added: “I know waste managers particularly like that, because it means they can keep the recycling end product nice and clean and of a high quality. They’ve got the evidence to show what is in those bales to show to recyclers.”
Implications of integrating AI tools went beyond transforming MRF operations in regards to sorting, the webinar heard, but also in influencing how recyclers and packaging suppliers can demonstrate compliance with food-grade materials criteria compliance.
Herriott noted cases where packagers had used AI systems to demonstrate how certain recovered materials have been used for specific functions such as confectionary wrapping. These tools could then help underpin effective supply chain monitoring to keep more food grade materials in circulation, he said.
Herriott also cited more recent industry interest in the using AI-led processes to remove challenging materials, such as vapes, which are a particular concern across the industry over the fire risks posed. AI tools could identify and remove these items from collections before reaching plant areas where they are at a higher risk of being damaged or pierced.
Herriott said: “So I think that is going to be a really exciting way that we can use AI in the coming years. Because we know that for all the bans on sales of single use vapes and other things that come in, there are still a significant problem.”
Technical workshop
JD Ambati returned for the second session of the webinar, which served as a technical worskhop to talk about EverestLabs’work with companies in North America and Europe on integrating AI tools into operations.
This considered developments both linked to robotics developments around sorting and materials management, as well as in offering more detailed guidance and assessments help enhance efficiency and offer predictive maintenance.
The company has introduced a new platform called Navigator, which it says allows plant operators to have improved real-time monitoring of site performance and, if required, oversee the management of plastics, metals and fibre-based materials.
This discussion also looked at implications for using AI technologies beyond automation. This included the potential for technologies such as AI cameras and robotic sorting that might support on-site resource management.
Ambati said the company was working with partners in environments including casinos, campuses and large-scale retail sites such as shopping centres to look at how these operations are being managed. EverestLabs has also put forward proposals for potential work at sites including Heathrow Airport.
Ambati said: “Anywhere there is on-site sorting, where there are humans touching recyclables and trash, we can put in place a robot to automatically run these operations.”
He argued that the existing human workforce and expertise could instead be focused on managing and monitoring these systems to ensure effective waste operations.
The workshop also allowed the audience to put their own questions to the company, asking how energy requirements for AI factored into adoption planning as well as how the technologies might assist with removing hazardous materials from collections.