Extrusion International 6-2019

REVIEW 48 Extrusion International 6/2019 TOMRA Sorting Recycling exhibited at the K-Show 2019, pre- senting its frontrunningposition in the circular economy, includ- ing sorting equipment like the recently introduced INNOSORT FLAKE, and giving an outlook to a groundbreaking innovation in the fields of Artificial Intelligence. Over the last decades, resources have been exploited recklessly to satisfy civilization’s infinite demand for resources and virgin products, leadingtoresourcesbecomingrareandunderunprec- edented pressure. Particularly plastic finds itself in focus with its usage being questioned. At present, around 40% of plastic packaging is sent to landfill, 32%ends up in nature as litter and 8 million tons of plastic is swept into the oceans, amounting to an annual loss of between 80 and 120 billion dollars’ worth of materials. Reconsidering the way resources are obtained, used and reused is amajor cornerstone for overcoming the barrier of limited resource availability. As a leader of the resource revolution, and in its unique posi- tion to help shape the circular economy, TOMRAproposes step- ping back from linear models and aligning with the reuse mod- els of a truly circular economy. Unlike the currently dominant linear economy as per which products are made and thrown away after consumption, the circular economy targets the re- covery of materials, which are efficiently brought back into the supply chain for being transformed into new products. Once consumed, products are not littered but collected by deposit systems, by curbside collection or by MRF sorting plants sorting diverse material for the subsequent recycling process. Following this concept, resources are kept in the loop while maintaining virgin like quality and extracting amaximumof the product’s value. Thus, waste is turned into value. With the circular economy being a topic of considerable de- bate in the industry, systematic approaches are already being discussed to stimulate the change. New legislation mandating an improvement of recycling rates, market pulls and consum- ers demanding more sustainable products prove supportive in transforming theory into practice. Additional solutions are seen in the promotion of plastics collection, in stopping leakage through infrastructure and deposit systems as well as in manu- facturing products that are regenerative and restorative by de- sign. In effect, these would be ideal solutions and processes that can only be realized with all stakeholders participating in the fight for a healthy environment and a sustainable, thriving economy. TOMRA, being a key stakeholder and driver of this transforma- tion to take place, promotes the circular economy by means of advanced collection and sorting systems that optimize resource recovery andminimizewaste. Its sensor-based sorting solutions, such as AUTOSORT, AUTOSORT FLAKE and INNOSORT FLAKE, Circular Visions, Small Flakes and Big Data are well established solutions heading the sorting and reprocessing process within the plastic value chain. Volker Rehrmann, Executive Vice-President TOMRA Recycling &Mining and Head of TOMRA Circular Economy, clearly states: “Continuing using our resources in an unsustainable and inef- ficient way should no longer be an option. At TOMRA, we take this global problem seriously and continuously develop new sorting solutions.” At this year’s K-Show TOMRA gave an understanding of the cir- cular economy and the role the company and its products play in there. Sorting small: Displayed at K-Show, the INNOSORT FLAKE is a good example of positively impacting and purifying the recy- cling process. Since its launch at PRS Europe in Amsterdam in April 2019, it has shown to be the ideal dual-sorting solution for plastic recovery facilities, sorting plastic fractions from 2 to 12mmby color and simultaneously by polymer types. Thus, vast proportions of contaminants can be removed and the potential loss of PET flake material significantly be reduced. This all-in-one solution with ultra-high resolution and special- ized sensor configuration offers superior performance with ex- ponential results. It’s an economically favorable sorting solution providing a quick return on investment and scalable flexibility. Sorting smart: Besides delivering state-of-the-art sorting ma- chines, TOMRA also focus on developing groundbreaking inno- vations advancing the sorting process evenmore. Based on the current possibilities to collect and manage large amounts of data and artificial intelligence strongly surfacing, TOMRA goes ahead with the development of a deep learning software for sensor-based sorting. As a subset of machine learning and artificial intelligence, the deep learning software is in a position to learn individually from a sizeable amount of collected data, equaling or even outper- forming sorting results achieved by humans and common ma- chines. With the combination of deep learning models and TOMRA’s sorting solutions, objects that could previously not be separated can now be sorted with high purity levels. In this regard, deep learning is considered as a promising approach when it comes to addressing the increasing challenges in waste sorting, such as newwaste streams, objects being detected but not successfully ejected or covered by other materials. Continuous innovation and technological advancements for meeting today’s demands in the recovery and recycling process is essential for TOMRA. TOMRA Sorting GmbH www.tomra.com/recycling