Glass is 100% recyclable and can be reused indefinitely without losing quality. However, only 78% of glass packaging is recycled in Europe, according to the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE). This means that millions of tons end up in landfills or are wasted in sorting processes each year.
The challenge lies in separating impurities such as ceramics, porcelain, or plastics, as well as identifying dark-coloured glass, which is often excluded from the recycling stream. With the incorporation of AI in Ecoglass, recovery rates can be increased, and the quality of recycled glass can be improved, minimizing the amount of discarded material.
Ecoglass is Picvisa’s optical sorting system specifically developed for glass treatment in recycling plants. Now, with AI integration, the system enhances its precision and efficiency, allowing the recovery of a larger volume of recyclable material with less operational effort.
The key advantages of the new Ecoglass version include:
- Enhanced recovery of recyclable glass. AI reduces the loss of valuable material, helping to increase recycling rates and preventing more glass from ending up in landfills.
- Advanced detection of dark-coloured glass. Through intelligent image processing, Ecoglass can identify and accurately classify dark-coloured glass, which has traditionally been difficult to recover.
- Morphological identification of contaminants. AI distinguishes materials not only by colour but also by shape, separating elements such as ceramics, plastics, or metals that can affect the quality of recycled glass.
- Reduced manual intervention and greater energy efficiency. AI optimizes decision-making in sorting, reducing the need for human intervention and minimizing equipment wear, leading to lower operational and maintenance costs.
- Self-learning and continuous adaptation. Thanks to the self-learning capabilities of its algorithms, the system improves its performance over time, adapting to new waste compositions and increasing its precision.
