Levenseat, pioneers in the field of waste management, announced today their decision to invest in 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”
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About Levenseat
Levenseat Ltd has been a key player in the Scottish Waste and Resource Management Sector for over 35 years. The company is an industry leader in converting wastes into resources, leading the way to a more sustainable and low carbon Scotland. Levenseat are committed to developing new innovations to recover the best resources and provide customers with environmental and economic solutions.
Levenseat’s mission is to harness the inherent value of all resources, and they see this as key to truly developing a circular economy. To help achieve this mission Levenseat have developed Scotland’s largest integrated facility that is home to a range of complimentary recycling and recovery processes where synergies can be developed to provide the best solution to the market. These operations range from separation and sale of recyclates to producing and marketing end products created from waste materials. We also recover energy from materials unsuitable for recycling, and our recent development of a heat and power plant ensures that we can offer the complete solution and ensure zero waste to landfill.
About Recycleye:
Recycleye is a growing technology company using advanced machine learning, computer vision, and robotics to bring transparency, traceability and accountability to the waste management industry. Working with leading players, Recycleye improves plant performance using the Recycleye Vision and Recycleye Robotics solutions to drive strategic decisions and increase the value of outputs.
Founded in 2019 by CEO Victor Dewulf and CTO Peter Hedley, Recycleye has raised over £5m to date, and operates in the UK and across Europe, employing a passionate and growing team of experts.