Robotic recycling system could save soft plastics from landfill

In a move to increase soft plastics recycling, engineering researchers at the University of Sydney are creating a smart, automated robotic system that uses artificial intelligence to sort recyclable waste. Soft plastics lack adequate recycling methods because they easily entangle in waste-separation machinery, which often leads to mechanical failure and contamination of other recyclable materials such as paper. Because of this problem, current recycling methods rely on the manual sorting of soft plastics. Despite an improvement in plastic recycling in recent years, landfill is a growing issue. Soft plastics like cling wrap and plastic bags are a major contributor to the problem, with 94% going to landfill in 2016–17.