Researchers from the University of Sydney have developed a new robot that can identify and sort soft plastics, in what is hoped to be a revolutionary step for streamlining the recycling process.
Currently, soft plastic cannot be recycled through local facilities as there isn’t adequate infrastructure to sort through it, and it often gets entangled in recycling machinery. As a result, 94% of soft plastic in Australia was sent to landfill between 2016-17.
Manually separating plastic is an arduous and sometimes dangerous task, and the new robot from Sydney engineers steps in to provide an alternative method. The team at the Centre for Internet of Things (IoT) and Telecommunications is working alongside industry partners as part of the federal government’s Cooperative Research Centre Project grant, and uses AI and robotics to identify and sort plastic waste.
“The 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 ‘see’ and ‘sort’ waste, to create separate waste streams and maintain soft plastics’ purity so they can be recycled,” explains IoT expert, Professor Branka Vucetic.
The project team is also collaborating with waste management companies IQRenew and CurbCycle to develop the system, with the robot intended to be incorporated into IQ Renew’s material recovering facility as part of CurbCycle’s existing recycling program. Under the scheme, households are asked to sort their plastic waste into different bags, which the robot will then sort through at the facility.
“Not 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’re also creating a sustainable supply chain that takes rubbish from households to end markets,” said Associate Professor Wanli Ouyang.
“The robot will identify ‘CurbyTagged’ bags and differentiate sources of plastic, separating soft plastics from the fully co-mingled recyclables,” he added.
Once separated, the soft plastics will then be processed to make new carbon-based products such as oil. This step will be undertaken by University of Sydney spinoff Licella.
It is hoped that the system will roll out nationally over the next few years.
