TOMRA Recycling welcomed participants of the NEXTLOOPP initiative to its headquarters in Mülheim-Kärlich, Germany last month, for live demonstrations of its latest sorting systems for polypropylene (PP) sorting and discussions on advancing Design for Recycling.
The visit brought together key stakeholders including 14 brand owners. At the TOMRA Test Centre, participants observed live trials showcasing TOMRA’s AUTOSORT system, where PP bales were successfully separated into white and natural fractions.
TOMRA also demonstrated its deep learning solution GAINnext, able to distinguish food-grade vs. non-food-grade PP. The company says GAINnext utilizes neural networks and object recognition to classify materials, enabling sorting by shape, size, dimensions, and other visual characteristics. When combined with traditional sorting systems which sort by material type and colour, it achieves ‘the highest sorting granularity currently available’.
During the visit, Edward Kosior, founder and CEO of Nextek Ltd and the NEXTLOOPP initiative, shared: “In the US, NEXTLOOPP has received FDA approval for the use of recycled polypropylene in food-grade applications. That’s a milestone - it highlights how we’re moving from ambition to reality in making PP circularity achievable.”
TOMRA Food recently unveiled its 4C optical sorting machine designed to increase detection, accuracy, performance, efficiency and flexibility for the nut and individual quick freezing (IQF) industries. The company says 4C is the first TOMRA machine to allow packers and processors to run multiple forms of artificial intelligence including its LUCAi Deep Learning and traditional machine learning in tandem.
In similar news, Pellenc ST’s optical sorting technology is being used at a new sorting plant for PET beverage containers in Skurve, Norway, created through a collaboration between Infinitum and Nordic Recycling Systems. Pellenc ST says a unique air transport system guarantees low operating costs as well as a clean environment, and the plant is also equipped with the most advanced label removing system ensuring loose labels are collected in big bags.
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