Digitalization

Interzero has digitalised its maintenance management in cooperation with Eggersmann. The company has been using the ESA app for more than two years to manage maintenance and plant processes at its plastics sorting facilities. The software is designed as a modular solution for digital plant management and process optimisation in the recycling industry.

Two years after its launch on 1 February 2024, Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) demonstrates the role of digital infrastructure in operating a national circular economy system at scale. Since becoming operational, the scheme has processed close to 2.5 billion returned beverage containers, supported by an integrated IT platform managing data, transactions and reporting across the value chain.

Aimplas has launched the POLY-ML project, an R&D initiative that applies machine learning methods to predict the properties of plastic materials based on their formulation and processing parameters.

Artificial intelligence will be a central topic at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRS Europe) exhibition and conference, which will take place at RAI Amsterdam on 5 and 6 May 2026.

Since April 2024, Cirrec, part of the Faerch Group, has been operating a recycling plant in the Netherlands that processes post-consumer PET trays from household collection systems into food-grade recycled material.

Fujitsu has commenced a demonstration experiment examining the value flow of green steel within the steel industry, starting in December 2025. The project was selected by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as part of its fiscal year 2025 Industrial Research Project.

Speira has introduced speira.ID, a digital product passport designed to provide structured and verifiable information on aluminium products. The system consolidates essential data for each individual coil in a single digital record, including carbon footprint, recycled content, chemical composition and input material mix.

Austria’s deposit return scheme (DRS) is approaching the end of its first year with stable operational performance and high return volumes. By the end of November 2025, more than 1.2 billion PET bottles and aluminium cans had been collected.

ZAV Recycling AG, a Swiss waste recycling company, has installed a ZenRobotics Heavy Picker at its Hinwil facility in Zurich. The advanced robotics solution, supplied through Swiss distributor AA Protun AG for dry bottom ash treatment, is delivering strong results, processing non-ferrous metals from bottom ash with improved recovery rates and increased processing capacity.

Northern Ireland based Plaswire has announced an initiative that uses blockchain, IoT and AI technology to revolutionise the recycling of wind turbine blades, unlocking a seismic opportunity for other sectors, including aerospace.

ValcopIA is the latest French MRF opened last July and sets the standards for sorting centres in France. ValcopIA is a project led by Decoset, a joint association in Haute-Garonne, and entrusted to the Paprec – GCC Occitanie – SWA – Aktid consortium as part of a comprehensive performance contract.