Kent County Installs New Recycling Technology at Recycling and Education Center

Grand Rapids, MI—Innovative technology is helping the Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW) remain as efficient as possible while diverting waste from landfills.

With grant funding from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), the DPW acquired three recycling robots from AMP Robotics, a leader in artificial intelligence, robotics, and infrastructure for the waste and recycling industry, that will help improve the quality, efficiency, and safety at the DPW’s Recycling and Education Center.

“By implementing these new technologies, the DPW continues to be on track to achieve our goal of reducing landfill waste,” said Dar Baas, director of Kent County DPW. “At the DPW, we are continuously innovating and implementing practices that increase our efficiency, improve safety, reduce landfill waste, and provide an overall better environment for Kent County residents.”

Installed on June 9, the robots use artificial intelligence to sort materials quickly and with precision, capturing high-value recyclables.

“We’re excited to expand our footprint in Michigan and bring the latest advancements in AI-driven automation to Kent County DPW,” said Jeremy Neigher, general manager of AMP Robotics’ technology solutions group. “Our partnership will help the DPW identify and recover recyclables at a faster rate and with greater precision.”

The DPW also recently installed eddy current technology at the Recycling and Education Center, which is a magnetic separator used to separate non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, and lead, from waste. The result is higher quality recycled materials and a more efficient process for diverting these materials from the landfill.

These new technologies help the DPW divert as much waste from the landfill as possible and contribute to revenue the DPW needs to offset the costs for processing recyclables. The technology can sort materials at a high rate that humans simply cannot, and with the current labor shortage, the robots and eddy current are important for the DPW to reach its goal of reducing landfill waste by 90% by 2030.

The Kent County Department of Public Works provides municipal solid waste disposal services to ensure the effective removal, storage and disposal of residential and commercial solid waste through various facilities and programs, including Waste-to-Energy, Recycling and Education Center, North Kent Transfer Station, and South Kent Landfill.

About AMP Robotics® Corp.
AMP Robotics is modernizing and scaling the world’s recycling infrastructure by applying AI and automation to increase recycling rates and economically recover recyclables reclaimed as raw materials for the global supply chain. In addition to developing AI-enabled solutions to retrofit existing recycling facilities, AMP also designs, builds out, operates, and services new facilities, powered by its application of AI for material identification and advanced automation, for waste industry customers. With hundreds of deployments across North America, Asia, and Europe, AMP’s technology recovers plastics, paper, and metals from municipal collection, precious commodities from electronic scrap, high-value materials from construction and demolition debris, and valuable feedstocks from organic material.