Recycling robot could help solve soft plastic waste crisis
The recycling robot. Credit: University of Sydney
Despite an improvement in plastic recycling in recent years, landfill is a growing issue. Soft plastics like cling wrap and plastic bags are a major contributor to the problem, with聽聽going to landfill in 2016-17.
Soft plastics lack adequate recycling methods as they easily entangle in waste separation machinery, leading to mechanical failure and contamination of other recyclable materials such as paper. Because of this problem, current recycling methods rely on the manual sorting of soft plastics, an often repetitive and unsafe task.
Working alongside industry partners as part of a federal government Cooperative Research Centre Project grant, researchers from the聽聽at the University of Sydney are developing a unique method to increase recycling of soft plastics 鈥� by creating a smart, automated robotic system that uses and AI to sort recyclable waste.听
The team includes聽,听,听,听聽and Senior Technical Officer Dawei Tan from the聽.听
鈥淭he recycling robotic automation system will use artificial intelligence and computer vision to learn how to identify different forms of recycling waste, effectively learning how to 鈥榮ee鈥� and 鈥榮ort鈥� waste, to create separate waste streams and maintain soft plastics鈥� purity so they can be recycled,鈥� said IoT expert, Professor Branka Vucetic.
鈥淪oft plastics are a big contributor to landfill and have long been a challenge for the circular economy and waste management sector, as they have lacked an adequate and safe sorting method. Using the latest IoT techniques, we have created a custom robot to solve this issue,鈥� said Professor Yonghui Li.听
鈥淏etween 2018 and 2019,听, which included soft plastics: only 9 percent was sent to recycling while 84 percent went to landfill. We aim to drastically switch those percentages by developing a solution that allows for most soft plastic waste being recycled,鈥� said Dr Wanchun Liu.听
The researchers are working with waste management companies, IQRenew and CurbCycle, technology developers Licella, Mike Ritchie and Associates, and Resource Recovery Design to develop the system.听
Soft plastics are a big contributor to landfill and have long been a challenge for the circular economy and waste management sector, as they have lacked an adequate and safe sorting method.
The robot will separate different types of plastic. Credit: University of Sydney
The system will be integrated into IQ Renew鈥檚 material recovery facility as part of CurbCycle鈥檚 soft plastic recovery program, an Australian initiative that involves the household collection of recyclables that are segregated into bags prior to placing them into their kerbside recycling bin.听
鈥淣ot only does our project divert household soft plastics from going to landfill; by creating a solution for the collection and sorting of waste with our industry and research partners, we鈥檙e also creating a sustainable supply chain that takes rubbish from households to end markets,鈥� said Associate Professor Wanli Ouyang.
鈥淭he robot will identify 鈥楥urbyTagged鈥� bags and differentiate sources of plastic, separating soft plastics from the fully co-mingled recyclables,鈥� he said.
After being separated from other waste, the soft plastics will be used for various purposes, including advanced recycling into oils and other valuable chemicals using patented聽聽(Cat-HTR鈩�) created by Licella Holdings. Licella was founded by Professor聽聽from the聽聽alongside Licella CEO, Dr Len Humphreys, and has been supported by the University of Sydney for 14 years.
鈥淭his highly innovative materials handling process can help extend the range of the Cat-HTR conversion technology to now include increasingly challenging waste streams, highlighting the benefit of close industrial and academic collaboration,鈥� said Professor Maschmeyer.
DECLARATION:
The researchers were awarded $2,999,220 as part of an Australian Federal Government聽. 聽
Professor Thomas Maschmeyer from the University鈥檚 School of Chemistry holds the position of Principal Technology Consultant at Licella.听