Digitalization

At IFAT 2026, Innovation4Waste will present an IoT ecosystem for waste collection designed to improve traceability, monitoring, and operational control.

At IFAT 2026, PICVISA presents a new development cycle focused on plastic, glass and textile sorting, alongside the introduction of the PICVISA metals vertical. The company exhibits system developments and operational case studies, including a digital representation of three industrial plants.

CP Group acquires a majority stake in Recycleye to expand AI-driven sorting systems and improve efficiency and data use in material recovery facilities.

Steinert UniSort and Eggersmann are expanding their cooperation to improve the efficiency of recycling systems. The focus is on NIR sorting performance monitoring, integrated into the Eggersmann ESA app, which analyses sensor data from Steinert UniSort NIR sorting systems in real time and provides operational insights.

Specim, part of Konica Minolta, has introduced Specim RETEX, a hyperspectral textile recognition solution designed for material identification and automated separation in textile processing and recycling.

Google has concluded a multi-year agreement with Commonwealth Sortation LLC, an affiliate of AMP Robotics Corporation, to remove 200,000 metric tonnes of CO₂e by 2030. The collaboration focuses on advancing biochar carbon removal in the waste sector and addressing methane emissions from municipal solid waste.

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.