AI-driven robot in action: Veolia Southwark IWMF's solution for smarter recycling

An innovative robotic arm optimises operations and increases recycling at Veolia's Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF).

As part of Veolia Southwark IWMF's aluminium recycling process, the robot removes paper, card, mixed plastics, and beverage cartons, which often contain some aluminium layers, for effective recycling.

Using AI and innovation to accelerate ecological transformation, Veolia will use this data in its new strategy, GreenUP, to make informed decisions that maximise the facility's efficiency and monitor seasonal waste composition changes.

The robotic solution comprises a camera, a 6-axis robotic arm, a pneumatics system, and a compute box. Using compressed air and a silicon gripper, the robot picks the item, twists it to face the correct sorting bin location, and blows it off the gripper into the bin. By using this advanced technology, the aluminium picking process can be streamlined, and contamination can be removed from the final recycling product. In order to increase the quality and quantity of materials recovered at the facility, the robot will pick between 35 and 50 items per minute. The objects pass along the belt and are scanned and recorded. A user-friendly dashboard can be created based on the data uploaded to the cloud.

Aluminium is crucial in various industries, including the green technology sector. It is used extensively in wind turbines and electric vehicles, both essential for achieving sustainability. Enhancing the capture of aluminium will facilitate more efficient recycling, vital for meeting the increasing global demand for the metal.

The project is supported by The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE), which represents the top manufacturers of food and drink cartons in the UK and Europe. ACE is committed to providing a safe, circular, sustainable packaging solution with low-carbon benefits.