Robots move in as waste firms struggle to find staff

Humanoid robots are being added to the automation of waste sorting. 5 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google David Waddell Business Reporter The dust at this busy recycling plant is pervasive and the steady noise of hoppers and conveyor belts makes this a challenging environment to work in. The facility in Rainham, east London is owned by Sharp Group, a family-run skip and waste management firm. Along the conveyor belts runs everything you could imagine, from shoes, to old VHS cassettes and blocks of concrete. These factors, along with the unpleasant nature of the work, mean keeping workers is difficult.

Annual staff turnover runs at 40%. "The belt is moving all the time, you're constantly picking. A robot, known as Alpha (Automated Litter Processing Humanoid Assistant) was being trained to pick through the rubbish. Built by RealMan Robotics in China, it's being adapted for real-world recycling operations by the British firm TeknTrash Robotics. Automated robots are not new to the sector, but the use of a humanoid is unusual.

TeknTrash founder and CEO Al Costa argues that copying human movement allows his robot to fit into existing plants without redesigning the machinery. Next to it, a plant worker wears a VR headset to record his own endeavours to demonstrate what successful picking and sorting looks like. The first is identifying what's on the conveyor and the second part is actually lifting up items. Costa says this is exactly what early-stage training looks like. They warn it what's coming, they guide its arms, and they report failures if unpicked items stay on the belt.

The passing of thousands of items delivers millions of data points every day. It will pick all day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's not going to apply for a holiday, it's not going to have a sick day," says Chelsea Sharp, plant finance director and granddaughter of company founder Tom Sharp. CEO Tim Stuart explains that AMP uses air jets to guide items into chutes. As Prof Marian Chertow of Yale University puts it: "Robotics coupled with AI-driven vision systems offers the greatest potential for improving material recovery, worker experience, and economic competitiveness in the recycling sector." Back in east London, the worker experience is "unappealing", admits Chelsea Sharp.

It's not that nice." Robots are unbothered by those conditions, but what becomes of the human workers as the technology scales up? Sharp claims there will be further work opportunities: "The plan is to upskill those staff. They'll be maintaining and overseeing the robots. And it brings those same people away from any dangers, including the unpleasant environment, heavy lifting and noise." More Technology of Business International Business Recycling Waste management Technology of Business Humanoid robots are being added to the automation of waste sorting. Robots move in as waste firms struggle to find staff