Digging is a thing of the past; the future lies in autonomous material handling with AI

Joint project develops solution for automated sorting of bulky waste

Until now, large pieces of waste such as bulky waste or construction waste could only be recycled with a great deal of manual and technical effort. The SmartRecycling-Up project has succeeded in developing a novel, AI-based overall concept that enables automated sorting for the first time. A consortium consisting of Baljer & Zembrod and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), among others, is developing innovative technologies that combine robotics, artificial intelligence and intelligent sensor technology into a functional system.

The automated sorting of waste is a central component of a sustainable circular economy. While smaller waste fractions such as packaging or paper can already be separated by machine, large pieces of waste such as bulky waste, wood or construction waste still pose a challenge. Until now, they have had to be laboriously shredded before they can be sorted in conventional plants – an inefficient, costly and energy-intensive process.

This is where the SmartRecycling-Up project, coordinated by the DFKI Robotics Innovation Centre, came in. The aim was to develop an intelligent solution for sorting large-piece waste that does not require mechanical shredding. The focus was on the automated recovery of valuable materials such as wood, plastic or metal, which have been difficult to separate from mixed waste until now.

The result: a hydraulic B&Z crane that uses camera systems and AI-based control to independently perform the complex tasks involved in the sorting process. These include circulating and mixing the waste mixture, filling a shredder in a targeted manner, detecting and removing contaminants, and separately sorting recyclable materials such as metals, plastics and wood.

The automation of B&Z plants offers considerable potential for making their use more economical. If automation in the recycling sector also enables valuable waste to be recycled, this not only increases economic efficiency but also promotes resource efficiency and climate protection through higher recycling rates.

We are therefore delighted to be a partner in this innovative "Smart Recycling" project and to be able to make an active contribution to the further development of autonomous pre-sorting.

Project partners and funding

SmartRecycling-Up was carried out under the leadership of DFKI in collaboration with the Institute for Energy and Circular Economy at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, the Smart Systems Research and Transfer Centre at HAW Hamburg, Baljer & Zembrod GmbH & Co. KG, Kreis-Abfallverwertungsgesellschaft Minden-Lübbecke, Karl Siedenburg GmbH & Co. KG and ASO Abfall-Service Osterholz GmbH. The project was funded by the BMUV under funding code 67KI21013 and supervised by Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH.