Tomra opens 425-square-meter AI-powered recycling test center in North Carolina

USA – Tomra Recycling has announced a 425 square meter test and training center in North Carolina, featuring AI-powered Autosort with GainNext technology, Autosort Flake, and Innosort Flake machines designed to enhance waste and plastic sorting efficiency, alongside warehouse space and training facilities.

The facility aims to provide customers in the Americas region with space to test waste and plastic materials, offering expanded testing capacities, shorter lead times, and greater scheduling flexibility. 

Lars Enge, executive vice president and head at Tomra Recycling, explained that the expansion reflects a commitment to continuously investing in growing markets and getting closer to customers.

AI-Powered Sorting Technology

Tomra’s latest innovations include the Autosort, featuring GainNext AI technology designed to identify hard-to-classify objects equipped with flexible sensor configuration to meet diverse waste streams from municipal solid waste, paper, and plastic packaging. 

The facility also includes Autosort Flake and Innosort Flake for sorting plastic flake materials.

Autosort Flake uses a near-infrared spectrometer, color camera, and metal sensor to sort high-purity end products, while Innosort Flake detects polymers and colors using an advanced NIR spectrometer and dual-sided imaging.

The testing circuit features the Waste Analyzer from PolyPerception, a deep learning AI tool that uses color cameras to capture real-time images of material flow at certain points in the lines, analyzing key performance metrics such as throughput, waste composition, and yield loss. 

According to Tomra, real-time monitoring of waste streams can increase performance and lower costs through actionable data.

Training for Operational Excellence

The center will enhance training capabilities at Tomra’s Americas headquarters, with technicians and customers undergoing training at the new facility. 

Operational Maintenance Training will teach basic machine operation and safety, performance data backup and system restoration, preventative maintenance measures, and fault code diagnostics. 

Maximizing Performance Training will cover advanced settings, machine operation, understanding machine performance, stabilizing and improving performance, and diagnosing machine conditioning.

Michelle Landon, senior vice president and head of Americas at Tomra Recycling, noted that recycling operations are benefiting from collective global Tomra expertise with the new Test and Training Center, since R&D teams continue to innovate with new optical sorting and deep learning AI applications to meet customer needs.

When AI Sorts What Humans Cannot

A sorting line that cannot tell black plastic from a dark blue wrapper is a bottleneck. Tomra’s AI-powered Autosort eliminates that blind spot. 

The new Charlotte center is not just a facility, it is a proving ground for the next generation of recycling technology.

Subscribe to our email newsletters that provide busy executives like you with the latest news insights and trends from Africa and the World. SUBSCRIBE HERE