Each Australian generates an average 10kg of waste each week. Some 3kg of that ends up in landfill, while our plastic recycling rates are nowhere near targets set for 2025. A new facility in Finland is dramatically. boosting recycling rates using robots. Could they stop us drowning in waste?
Agarbage truck pulls up at a waste-sorting plant on the outskirts of Helsinki. The rubbish goes by conveyor belt to the sorting section, where it is separated and distributed according to material. In most places this work would be carried out by people wearing gloves and masks, but here, the robots are in charge. Grippers sort the metal, wood and concrete from the conveyor belt into separate containers.
The fully automatic sorting plant was put into service in early 2022 and is an example of how robots could help us sort waste more quickly and efficiently. In the future, our handling
