In context
In 2024, the U.S. aluminum beverage can recycling rate remained below half, with significant losses occurring at material recovery facilities (MRFs) due to missorting. The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) had been funding initiatives to demonstrate the economic value of capturing these missorted cans, aiming to spur wider adoption of robotic sorting technology across the recycling industry.
What was reported
EverestLabs, developer of the RecycleOS AI-enabled operating system for MRFs, partnered with LRS, the nation's fifth largest independent waste diversion and recycling provider. With funding from CMI members Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings, LRS installed an EverestLabs sorting robot on the residual line at its new MRF, The Exchange, in the Chicagoland area.
The robot assists in quality control for over 350,000 pounds of recycled aluminum per month—approximately 12 million beverage cans. The lease agreement includes a revenue share, with CMI receiving a portion of revenue from cans collected by the robot to fund additional can-capture equipment in other MRFs.
CMI's 2020 research found that up to 25% of all used beverage cans (UBCs) entering MRFs may be missorted and lost. A prior collaboration between CMI, EverestLabs, and Caglia Environmental captured more than 1,500 additional UBCs per day at a Caglia facility. The Exchange processes 25 tons of recyclables per hour and diverts 224 million pounds annually.
Why it mattered
This deployment demonstrated a viable business model for robotic sorting in recycling—combining AI vision with revenue-sharing leases to lower adoption barriers. It highlighted how targeted automation can recover valuable commodities, reduce landfill waste, and support circular economy goals, potentially encouraging broader investment in MRF robotics across the industry.
“Our highly accurate, easily deployed vision systems and robots make it possible to retrofit existing sorting and last chance lines at a cost of ownership that makes perfect sense for both MRFs and aluminum packaging companies.”
Source: Robotics & Automation News (roboticsandautomationnews.com) · Published 2024-05-21 · “LRS advances aluminum can recovery with EverestLabs robot, funded by Can Manufacturers Institute”