Sonoco Partners with AMP Robotics to Enhance Paper Can Recycling

Sonoco (NYSE: SON) announced today it has partnered with AMP Robotics, a pioneer in AI, robotics and infrastructure for the waste and recycling industry, to create a new material category within AMP’s neural network specific to rigid paperboard cans. The U.S. partnership will result in increased recycling rates for the spiral wound paper canister with steel bottom produced by Sonoco and other manufacturers.

The use of recycled steel has a 45% lower environmental impact than producing the equivalent amount from virgin material, reducing the need to mine for virgin iron ore. Additionally, when compared to landfilling, recycling the paper container with steel bottom through the steel or other streams has a greater than 40% lower environmental impact than landfilling. Any materials recovery facility with an AMP Cortex™ intelligent robotics system can now accurately and efficiently sort Sonoco’s paper can to the desired stream.  

“Sonoco is uniquely positioned as a leading recycler to help deliver end-of-life solutions across our consumer and industrial packaging platforms,” said Elizabeth Rhue, Staff Vice President of Sustainability at Sonoco. “This partnership represents another step forward in our growing portfolio of sustainable packaging solutions.”

“Our AI is unique in its strength, precision and flexibility to learn new packaging to the specificity of a manufacturer or brand, and Sonoco was early to recognize the implications of AI in the sorting process,” said Matanya Horowitz, Founder and CEO of AMP Robotics. “Manufacturers like Sonoco are directly influencing what is recoverable in recycling facilities and taking advantage of the ability to capture more of their specific packaging. Recyclers across the world with AMP Cortex gain this sorting capability, as they have many others. And because our AI is continuously learning, we’ll only improve the recovery of this and other materials over time.”

AMP’s AI platform, AMP Neuron™, encompasses the largest known real-world dataset of recyclable materials for machine learning. With an object recognition rate of more than 10 billion items annually, the company can classify more than 100 different categories and characteristics of recyclables across single-stream recycling, e-scrap and construction and demolition debris. In the U.S., AMP has successfully demonstrated the high-frequency recognition of steel-bottomed paper canisters and updated its software to enable platform-wide recognition of the material for sortation into any target stream.  
https://investor.sonoco.com/news-releases/news-release-details/sonoco-partners-amp-robotics-enhance-paper-can-recycling

Related Posts

Sealed Air Announces Price Increases for Its North American Product Care Products

Sealed Air Corporation announced that it is implementing a price increase on all products in its North American Product Care division. The increases will be effective September 1, 2017. The price adjustments are the result of escalation in resin costs of over 7% since the start of the year with over 9% of additional increases expected to be announced in the near term. Other raw materials costs have also been on the rise including chemical components (MDI/Polyol) which are up 15% since the start of 2017, and recycled paper and corrugated up with Old Corrugated Container (OCC) costs climbing more than 50% year-to-date with further increases expected. Click Read More below for additional details.

A range of UPM’s recyclable packaging papers are now certified industrially compostable

Seven UPM packaging papers are now proven to be industrially compostable, marking another step on UPM Specialty Papers’ sustainability journey. Seven packaging papers have recently been certified as industrially compostable, according to the EN13432 standard: *Barrier papers: UPM PregoTM, UPM AsendoTM *Coated one side papers: UPM FlexPackTM, UPM UniquePackTM, UPM UniquePackTM Strong *Specialty kraft papers: UPM SolideTM Lucent

UPM Raflatac reveals the power of labels to drive purchasing and influence tasting experience

UPM Raflatac has released the findings of a new neuromarketing study. Results show the power of different label materials and finishes to shape consumer perceptions and drive purchasing. Focused on white wine labels, the research carried out in collaboration with partners in the packaging value chain, ARGEA, SenseCatch, Kurz, and Krämer Druck, shows that label material and finishes all have a significant part to play in consumer purchasing behavior and post-purchase enjoyment. The research has been summarized in a book, which also features a foreword by Uwe Melichari, a sustainable packaging expert, designer, and Pentawards jury member. The book is available in three languages and as a digital version. A wine’s label plays a pivotal role in the consumer’s decision to buy it or not. In fact, according to a study on the wine sector conducted by wine.net, it was found that 82% of a sample of 2000 consumers relied primarily on the label to choose their favorite wine. Many other studies have also commented on the link between the perceived taste of wine and expectations, and how these are influenced by the label’s color, shape, paper, printing technique, and overall design.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search