Equipment report

AMCS launches the AMCS Platform Winter 2023

AMCS, an Ireland-based technology provider to the waste, recycling and environmental health and safety industries, has launched its AMCS Platform Winter 2023.

“This release demonstrates our continued commitment to empowering our customers to increase productivity and efficiency while also improving environmental outcomes,” says Elaine Treacy, global product director at AMCS. “Our customer-led advancements leverage powerful emerging technologies, such as AI [artificial intelligence] and IoT [internet of things]. Our goal is to streamline and automate processes to ensure our customers reach the highest levels of sustainability and business performance.”

According to the company, the Winter 2023 platform is set to offer new benefits and features across transport, finance, material management and data analytics operations.

Additionally, AMCS says new master route management and transport validation features will enhance automation, control and insights, while its Smart Inspection Tool will digitize inspections and trigger automatic work orders. The winter release includes a telematic connector to enable preventive maintenance as well as a CO2 calculator designed to facilitate carbon emission measurements.

The platform also includes an enhanced version of the company’s Vision AI technology.

“AMCS Vision AI will improve the quality of recyclables collected, allowing us to work with our end clients to educate and advise them on improving the material they are presenting and avoiding contaminants,” says Andrew Pellegrini, vice president and general manager of Stanford, California-based Peninsula Sanitary Service Inc., an AMCS customer.

The platform also includes an expanded price hierarchy to simplify and automate pricing, reduced scale ticket entry time to act as a point of sale with new payment options and the AMCS OData Connector, which provides access to all AMCS platform data.

Ardagh Metal Packaging, Crown Holdings fund equipment grants

Beverage can manufacturers Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP), Luxembourg, and Crown Holdings Inc., based in Yardley, Pennsylvania, have funded a pair of can capture equipment grants.

The companies say the funding will help capture approximately $325,000 of additional cans, which, when recycled, could result in energy savings equivalent to powering more than 900 U.S. homes per year.

GreenWaste, based in San Jose, California, and RecyclingWorks, based in Elkhart, Indiana, are the two material recovery facilities (MRFs) receiving the grants.

“Ardagh Metal Packaging is proud to jointly fund, with Crown, these grants that continue to demonstrate there is a significant opportunity for MRFs to capture millions of aluminum beverage cans each year,” AMP North America CEO Jens Irion says.

GreenWaste, which serves 300,000 households in the San Jose area, will use the grant toward a second eddy current separator that will capture undersized aluminum and previously lost items from the MRF’s screening process. It expects to capture 260 new tons of aluminum each year with this equipment.

RecyclingWorks reaches more than 200,000 households and will use the grant toward a robotic sorter that can be installed on the residue conveyor. It says the equipment will reduce the amount of aluminum going to landfill by 45 tons.

“A consumer putting an aluminum beverage can in the recycling bin, getting hauled to a MRF and then being missorted and not recycled is unacceptable,” says John Rost, vice president of global sustainability and regulatory affairs at Crown. “We need more of our aluminum back to provide a consistent domestic supply of material that people in good manufacturing jobs at our facilities ultimately turn into new aluminum beverage cans.”

The grants are in addition to four others AMP and Crown previously funded as part of a program in collaboration with The Recycling Partnership, Washington. The companies say the six equipment grants have catalyzed the installation of equipment that will capture more than 115.5 million aluminum beverage cans each year.

“These improvements to our recycling systems will provide meaningful gains in aluminum circularity,” says Adam Gendell, director of materials advancement at The Recycling Partnership. “We see tremendous opportunities to continue upgrading our recycling infrastructure and we’re grateful to partner with the Can Manufacturers Institute to pursue our shared mission of reducing waste and increasing circularity.”