Fresno, California-based Caglia Environmental announced improvements to recycling technology at its Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station (CARTS). This enhancement was made possible through funding from The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition. Caglia Environmental is one of 12 companies and organizations in North America to receive a PET Recycling Coalition grant.
This grant enabled the installation of a robotic sorter using Everest Labs’ RecycleOS. The RecycleOS software is designed to identify and sort PET plastic into three specialized streams, and each robot efficiently sorts these into three different bunkers. This process is unique because most facilities that accept PET collect and package three streams into one. This system has the ability to separate these plastics into his PET bottles, thermoformed packaging, and colored/opaque PET.
Thermoformed products such as food packaging will be separated from the bottles by a new system.Source: Getty
“Being at the forefront of separating PET into specialized streams is a positive leap forward toward a larger, broader recycling landscape that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) brings to California and our industry.” said Adam Gendel, director of materials advancement at the Recycling Partnership. .
Caglia Environmental’s new investment in EverestLabs solutions is expected to improve the recycling efficiency of PET plastics, ensure the purity of recycled materials, and increase their value and sustainability. The facility is now able to separate clear PET bottles, thermoformed products, and colored/opaque PET into separate streams, significantly improving the recycling process and output quality. This renovation marks the first time that a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) has consistently targeted each of these three types of products as separate items, and serves as a benchmark for his MRF to aim for this in the future.
“The Caglia team quickly realized that robotics and data powered by RecycleOS dramatically improved last-chance line revenue,” said JD Ambati, Founder and CEO of EverestLabs. Masu.
