Panda Ireland, a subsidiary of the Beauparc group, has made significant progress in their aluminium recycling efforts at their Ballymount materials recycling facility (MRF) by implementing four advanced robots. These robots have proven to be a game-changer by delivering numerous benefits, including significant time and cost savings.
Of particular significance is the aluminium-line robot's ability to automate tasks that have greatly reduced labour expenses. The robot's ability to pick consistently and continuously across both shifts has resulted in a considerable reduction in labour costs.
Moreover, the residual-line robot has taken on the responsibility of recovering beverage cartons that were previously overlooked and not chosen for resale, thus increasing productivity while reducing waste.
Apart from these benefits, the robots have also helped the company achieve a 100% success rate for material scanned, providing valuable compositional trend insights for the material received.
The Ballymount MRF is a mixed dry recycling facility that receives co-mingled recycling collection from 400,000 homes around Dublin and the surrounding areas. It produces paper, plastics, aluminium, and steel for reuse.
The system used by Panda Ireland incorporates a camera positioned above the conveyor belts that employs computer vision algorithms to identify each item within the waste stream, categorizing them based on their object type and material. Subsequently, it issues instructions to the corresponding robotic arm, guiding it to pick up the item and dispatch it to the appropriate bin.
Technical sales manager for the UK and Ireland at Recycleye, Tom Harrison, boasted: "We are proud to support the Panda team in automating their sorting operations to achieve more reliable resource recovery through a robust, cost-effective and retrofittable solution."
Many MRF operators have begun installing robots as ways to automate their facilities. This helps in the long-term to tackle difficulties in recent years with recruiting staff and, more importantly, improves the efficiency of processing recyclable materials, such as aluminium, which has a significant positive impact on the economy and the environment.
Aluminium is 100% recyclable with the added benefit of no material loss during the transformational process. Moreover, it can retain its original properties after passing through recycling processes, making it the most commonly used material for food and beverage packaging. But the retrieval of aluminium from packaging solutions is immensely difficult and it is where the material recovering facilities come into play. The recycled aluminium industry is quite widely spread and AL Circle has formulated detailed reports and e-magazines on the same. If the recycling world intrigues you, have a look at World Recycled Aluminium Market Analysis but if you wish to learn more about recycling initiatives in the aluminium sector, spare some time to read AL Circle's e-Magazine, Recycling-Reshaping the Future of the Aluminium Value Chain.
The head of the project management office at Panda, Liam Dunne, declared: "The Recycleye robot system has provided a cost reduction and allowed us to achieve a more accurate picking solution at certain points in our process."
"The single biggest reason we decided to go with Recycleye is that they fit their machine into our existing infrastructure. The installation process was carried out over two weekends, out of production hours, within our schedule. All we had to do was prepare the area – Recycleye looked after everything else," Dunne added.
Overall, the advanced robotic systems implemented by Panda Ireland are a testament to the company's commitment to sustainability and innovation in the waste management industry.
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