AI-robot to recover 1M beverage cans annually and boost UK metal recycling infrastructure

29 Sep 2023 --- The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) is funding the development of a robot at a California material recovery facility (MRF) owned by Caglia Environmental that sorts single-stream recyclables.

Designed by AI and robotics company EverestLabs, the robot is expected to capture 1 million used beverage cans (UBCs) annually. CMI used funding from its members Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings to finance the two-year equipment lease for Caglia, sharing with CMI 50% of all revenue from the UBCs captured with the leased equipment. 

The lease program is the latest in CMI’s effort to demonstrate the potential additional revenue for the recycling system through capturing missorted UBCs. 

“We are excited about the lease model because it highlights that aluminum beverage cans are consistently one of the most valuable recyclable commodities and further exemplifies how this recycled beverage container pays its own cost of recycling due to that high market value,” says John Rost, vice president of global sustainability and regulatory affairs at Crown. 

“CMI research has concluded that without the vital revenue from UBCs, most MRFs would not be able to operate without a change to their business model.”

2022 testing found an average loss of seven to 36 UBCs per minute, representing an annual average revenue loss of US$71,900.The institute’s 2020 research, “Aluminum Beverage Can: Driver of the US Recycling System,” found that up to one in four aluminum beverage cans is missorted at a typical MRF. 

Preventing landfill 
CMI supported on-the-ground testing in 2022 at five loss points across three diverse MRFs. This testing found an average loss of seven to 36 UBCs per minute, representing an annual average revenue loss of US$71,900 with a payback period of three years per the return-on-investment calculator that CMI commissioned and published online for MRFs to use.

“We put EverestLabs’ robot on the last chance line and have it focusing on aluminum beverage cans so that it’s picking ‘gold’ out of the trash,” says Corey Stone, plant maintenance manager at Capital Area Rural Transportation System.

“This lease provides a no-risk, no-cost way for Caglia to advance its goal of capturing all recoverable material coming through its facility. EverestLabs’ real-time and easy-to-use analytics platform, alongside an easily retrofittable robotic cell with zero disruptions and guaranteed highest recovery in the industry, ensures all possible UBCs are recovered.”

Caglia estimates with previously conducted vision studies and analysis that EverestLabs’ robot will capture 32,000 pounds (14,514,956 kilograms) of UBCs per year that otherwise would have gone to landfill. This is equivalent to collecting more than 1 million UBCs per year or around three UBCs per minute of operation. 

“Considering metal recycles forever – with 93% of recycled aluminum beverage cans turned into new cans and recycled aluminum 94% less carbon-intensive than making primary aluminum – it is imperative that recycling sortation facilities capture all cans for the aluminum industry to buy and recycle,” says Jens Irion, CEO of Ardagh Metal Packaging – North America. 

Saving emissions Metal recycles forever – with 93% of recycled aluminum beverage cans turned into new cans.
Jagadeesh Ambati, founder and CEO of EverestLabs, explains that with new investment models, “we can speed adoption of AI solutions to eliminate losing UBCs to landfill, as this is a loss for the entire ecosystem.”

Now that EverestLabs’ 3D depth-sensing camera, AI and robot have been installed at Caglia’s Fresno MRF, the RecycleOS data platform is delivering daily reports on the number of missorted UBCs, along with the economic value of these cans and the GHG emissions saved from recycling them. 

The equipment is seeing up to 1,400 UBCs per day and recovering a majority of them, so they go into the circular supply chain rather than to landfill. Caglia, CMI and EverestLabs plan to provide updates with further data after the equipment has operated for a longer period of time. 

Caglia plans to use the experience with this robot to see how else it can deploy technology at its MRF to maximize its recovery efforts. CMI intends to support additional can-capture equipment at MRFs with the lease model and will use learnings from this first lease to refine its approach to can-capture equipment financing.

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim