Amp Robotics named SPC’s 'Innovation in Recovery' award winner

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), based in Charlottesville, Virginia, has named Louisville, Colorado-based Amp Robotics Corp. as its “Innovation in Recovery” award winner for its work on establishing a new material category specific to rigid paperboard cans.

The SPC says it has issued its Innovator Awards for the past five years, with the goal to highlight novel solutions and inspire other organizations within the space to test and scale sustainable packaging innovations. Award recipients were congratulated during a ceremony on the first day of SPC Advance conference in Atlanta.

Amp was chosen for its work with packaging recycler and producer Sonoco Products Co., Hartsville, South Carolina, on developing a means to successfully sort rigid paperboard cans, such as Pringles cans and coffee, nut and snack containers, for recycling using artificial intelligence (AI). The SPC says the partnership drives increased recycling rates for spiral-wound paper canisters with steel and paper bottoms produced by Sonoco and other manufacturers.

The companies used the Amp Cortex system, which Amp says quickly automates the identification and sorting of recyclables from mixed material streams.

The SPC says Amp’s work in sorting is important because it “is working with companies across the spectrum of recyclable materials to adapt its AI platform to the specificity of a manufacturer or brand and disperse the sorting capability to material recovery facilities with its robotic sorting systems”.