TOMRA targets glass with new AutoSort

Germany-based TOMRA Sorting Recycling has introduced its AutoSort Color, a new machine designed to work in combination with TOMRA’s AutoSort Laser to separate glass from municipal solid waste (MSW).

According to TOMRA, AutoSort Color achieves purity rates greater than 95 percent at high throughput rates, even when input materials are wet, dusty or dirty.

Although discarded glass is collected separately in many countries, a significant amount of recoverable glass nevertheless remains mixed in with municipal solid waste (MSW) from households and businesses, says the firm. Glass content in MSW in Europe can range from 3.5 percent by weight to as much as 9.8 percent.

Research by FEVE (the European Container Glass Federation) shows the collection of glass from MSW for recycling varies considerably from nation to nation, says TOMRA. Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Luxembourg all achieve recovery rates of 95 percent or higher, but in parts of western Europe the rate ranges between 68 to 75 percent, and in five eastern European nations the rate is below 40 percent.

“In most nations across the world, there is significant room for improvement in the recovery of glass from household and business waste,” states Valerio Sama, vice president and head of product management recycling at TOMRA. “Separating more glass for recycling is better for the environment and better for sorting businesses’ profitability, and with AutoSort Color, both of those benefits are now achievable.”

AutoSort Color can be deployed to let sorting operations extract and sell this glass, which would otherwise fail to make it through to the recycling process, says TOMRA. This also helps sorting plant operators minimize the risks of disruption, downtime and repair costs arising from damage to components in sorting machines not intended to handle glass.

In developing AutoSort Color, TOMRA set goals of recovering a minimum of 80 percent of the glass from MSW, with at least 95 percent of the recovered glass being of saleable quality. These targets, says TOMRA, were consistently met during testing at four facilities in Germany and Spain, including one plant that handles up to 3,000 metric tons of glass annually.

TOMRA Sorting Recycling, part of Norway-based TOMRA Systems ASA, designs and manufactures sensor-based sorting technologies for the global recycling and waste management industry. TOMRA Sorting has some 5,500 systems installed in nearly 80 different countries.