Caglia Environmental expands its use of robots, AI to PET recovery

With the help of funding from The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition, Caglia Environmental, a Fresno, California-based recycling company, has installed an artificial intelligence-guided robot from EverestLabs to sort polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Caglia Environmental was one of 12 businesses and organizations in North America to receive a PET Recycling Coalition grant. 

RELATED: The Recycling Partnership launches PET Recycling Coalition

With the grant, Caglia has installed RecycleOS-powered robotic sorters developed by EverestLabs, Fremont, California, at its Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station (CARTS) material recovery facility that can identify and sort PET plastic into three streams—bottles, thermoformed containers, and pigmented/opaque—placing them into three different bunkers.

"The Recycling Partnership is excited to work with CARTS as they implement a bold and replicable new system for PET recycling,” says Adam Gendell, director of Material Advancement at The Recycling Partnership, headquartered in Washington. “Being at the forefront of separating PET into specialized streams is a proactive leap towards the bigger and broader recycling landscape that extended producer responsibility (EPR) will bring to California and the industry."

Caglia Environmental says its ability to sort clear PET bottles, thermoforms and pigmented/opaque PET into separate streams will significantly improve the recycling process and output quality. This retrofit represents the first time a MRF has consistently targeted each of these three product types as separate commodities, according to a news release about the installation, and will serve as a benchmark for MRFs seeking to do this type of targeted sorting in the future. 

Caglia previously installed EverestLabs technology to help recover aluminum cans. That installation was funded through a financing model developed by the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), Washington.  

CMI provided financing for a two-year lease on a robot that was placed on the last-chance line at the CARTS MRF with funding from Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings. In return, Caglia agreed to share 50 percent of the revenue generated from the UBCs collected by the robot. Caglia estimates, based on previous analyses, that EverestLabs’ robot could capture 32,000 pounds of UBCs per year that otherwise would have gone to landfill.

"EverestLabs is delighted to extend our partnership with Caglia Environmental to increase PET recovery under The Recycling Partnership's grant from their PET Recycling Coalition,” EverestLabs founder and CEO JD Ambati says. “The Caglia team saw right away that RecycleOS-powered robotics and data dramatically improved their bottom line on their last-chance line. This overwhelmingly positive experience has led to the expansion of robots on their PET line. We are excited to work with Caglia's forward-thinking leadership on AI and robotics solutions that drive their recovery and revenue growth while addressing labor challenges.”

"Our family has been dedicated to providing waste and recycling services to the Fresno community for over 80 years,” says Richard Caglia, owner of Caglia Environmental. “This advancement in our facility represents not just a technological leap but a continuation of our longstanding commitment to environmental responsibility and community service. We are proud to set a new standard for recycling in the region and hope to inspire others to follow this path."