New Recycling Trends: AI, Robots, and Hard-to-Recycle Items

Republic Services' Anaheim Facility Upgrade

• 🚀 A fire in 2022 led Republic Services to rebuild their Anaheim recycling plant, transforming it into a state-of-the-art facility.
• 📈 The new plant doubles processing capacity from 50 to 100 tons per hour across three lines, significantly enhancing recovery capabilities.
• 🤖 It features 15 optical sorters, including 7 advanced AI-powered visual identification systems (Max AI viz) that work with optical sorters to identify and eject contaminants or recover more material.
• 💡 The upgraded system can now process 2D materials like crushed bottles, preventing them from ending up in landfills.
• ✅ For optimal recycling, bottles should be emptied, dry, and have their caps on, while glass jars and cardboard (broken down) are also accepted.

Everest Labs: AI in Recycling Sorting

• 🧠 Everest Labs utilizes AI, specifically large vision models, to digitize the recycling stream by identifying and categorizing materials on conveyor belts.
• 📸 Using cameras and spectral scanners as its 'eyes,' the AI determines material type (e.g., aluminum, PET, glass) and packaging form.
• 🤖 This data is sent to robotics arms that perform positive sorting (picking valuable materials) or negative sorting (removing contaminants) to increase efficiency and throughput.
• 🤝 Automation in recycling facilities addresses the challenge of high staff turnover and difficult-to-fill manual sorting jobs, allowing human workers to transition to higher-value roles.
• 📊 Everest Labs aims to provide data to policymakers and packaging companies to improve recycling processes and promote sustainable packaging.

Ridwell: Tackling Hard-to-Recycle Items

• ♻️ Ridwell is a certified B Corporation offering doorstep pickup for items not accepted by traditional curbside recycling programs, partnering with over 200 businesses and nonprofits.
• 🌟 Founded in Seattle in 2018, Ridwell has expanded to seven states with 120,000 members, diverting over 30 million pounds from landfills.
• 📦 Popular categories include plastic films (like shipping bags and cheese bags), multi-layered plastics (chip bags, dog food bags), clothing, light bulbs, and batteries.
• 🌐 The service addresses the challenge of plastic films jamming municipal recycling equipment, by collecting them in separate bags for specialized recycling into composite lumber or new materials.
• 📈 Ridwell reports that 97% of the material they collect is recycled, with transparency on their website about problematic items to help users adjust their habits.