8th September 2022
Levenseat, pioneers in the field of waste management, announced today their decision to invest in Recycleye automated robotic waste sorting technology at their fully integrated site in Lanark. The Levenseat Management team expect this investment to further support output quality, ultimately increasing recycling rates in Scotland.
Established over 35 years ago, Levenseat provides valuable waste services to local authority and commercial customers and currently, their Container Materials Recycling Facility, recycles over 2 million aluminium cans and 2 million plastic containers each week, strengthening the Scottish circular economy and avoiding materials being sent to landfill.
Levenseat’s investment with Recycleye brings the company an intelligent system comprised of an AI computer vision solution, driven by machine learning. Combined with a robotic picking arm that was specifically designed to pick dry mixed recyclables, the system is able to detect all individual items on waste streams by material and object, efficiently targeting the most valuable for recycling.
The AI robotic system will sit on top of the facility’s existing aluminium and mixed plastics stream conveyor belts, providing the site manager with complete visibility on the waste stream and helping to improve the overall efficiency and operations of the plant’s sorting processes.
The robots will be installed alongside, but separate to human operatives, who continue to work in the company’s facilities. The company is headquartered in West Lothian, employs 200 people at its 7 on-site recycling centres and offers services covering recycling, organic recycling and energy from waste.
Levenseat Managing Director, Angus Hamilton, said “Innovation is at the core of who we are at Levenseat. Staying ahead of the game to maximise recovery of resources often means being the first to invest in new technology. We are excited and proud to be working with Recycleye to bring AI-powered robotic sorting to Scotland and believe this is the next big step in enhancing our operations and the service we then can offer to our customers”.
Recycleye CEO Victor Dewulf commented “We are excited to work with the innovators at Levenseat, bringing our technology to Scotland. Our ability to target specific material using our 6-axis 2nd generation waste picking robot is supporting Levenseat’s existing high quality offtake and means a strong return on investment in a relatively short amount of time. This is a further example of the Recycleye team delivering on our mission of turning the world’s waste into resource”