Faerch company Cirrec is using an AI-based system to sort PET trays from household recycling into a food-grade stream – claiming to sort 60,000 tonnes of plastic and over three billion trays annually.
EU Regulation 2022/1616 mandates that food-grade rPET can only be used to manufacture new food packaging if it has already been in contact with food. However, Cirrec points out that near-infrared (NIR) sorting systems cannot make that distinction.
At its recycling plant in the Netherlands, Cirrec is working to overcome the challenge by examining individual trays with three STEINERT UniSort PR EVO 5.0 systems. These machines use sensor fusion, in which a hyperspectral NIR camera captures the chemical composition while a colour camera simultaneously identifies visual characteristics.
Together, the data streams provide improved data quality for the AI-based sorting programme, STEINERT Intelligent Object Identifier. The system detects characteristic patterns like the shape of a ready meal tray, as well as typical printing and surface textures, and identifies food packaging by type.
As a result, it is said to achieve the required purity of over 95% to unlock food-grade recycling.
Cirrec adds that the Intelligent Object Identifier can be trained for new sorting tasks if the packaging design or composition of input material need to be changes. Apparently, the system can be adapted without hardware replacement.
“Achieving the stringent standard required for food-grade recycling has always demanded exceptional precision in sorting,” says Simone Tirelli, technical project manager at Faerch. “Here at this plant, we are committed to transforming plastic waste into valuable resources.”
Once the bales have been delivered, they undergo magnetic separation. The STEINERT UME overhead magnet is used to remove ferrous metals, and the STEINERT CanMaster eddy current separator handles non-ferrous metals.
Three UniSort PR EVO 5.0 systems undertake optical sorting, and the recyclate is ground, washed, and processed into flakes and pellets. These are passed on to Faerch Group to be converted into new packaging.
Reportedly, the packaging offers an average recycled content of 70%. A life cycle analysis also suggests that the rPET in tray format generates 57% fewer CO2 emissions than virgin PET.
Cirrec claims to be the world’s only operator to recycle post-consumer PET trays to food-grade material at industrial scale.
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