Sunshine Groupe to install ZenRobotics Recycler unit

Helsinki, Finland-based ZenRobotics Ltd. says it will deliver a robotic waste sorting system to Sunshine Groupe in Melbourne, Australia. The three-armed ZenRobotics Recycler unit (ZRR3) will be the first of its kind in Australia, and ZenRobotics says it is expected to be fully operational in spring of 2017.

Sunshine Groupe, founded in 1926, is a family-owned business with five-generations of recycling experience. With recent investments, Sunshine Groupe seeks to position itself as one of Melbourne’s primary waste processors.

“We believe that through changed thinking and innovative technology, wastes can be transformed into valuable resources,” says Tom Buxton, director at Sunshine Groupe. “We will achieve this by challenging conventional waste practices and by looking for new and innovative technologies to recycle waste.

Through a partnership with Sustainability Victoria, Sunshine Groupe installed a material recovery facility (MRF) at its Brooklyn landfill and recovery site. The facility allows Sunshine Groupe to better identify resources from the 120,000-tonnes-per-year waste stream to be repurposed and reused. A mixture of materials will be dropped off at the primary transfer station, where it will then be sorted into specific fractions.

After the materials have been sorted through these processes, they will be transferred to the state-of-the-art robotic material sorting plant. Here, the ZRR3—a tristation robotic gantry arm plant manufactured by ZenRobotics and supplied by Robots in Waste—will use its sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to sort materials by type.

“At Sunshine Groupe, we believe in sustainability, which is why we’ve invested in some of the most advanced recycling technology in the world,” Buxton says.

The Australian market looks very promising, according to ZenRobotics’ dealer Jim Duncan from Robots in Waste, Brisbane, Australia.

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“It is exciting for Robots in Waste to have the Sunshine Groupe project finally close to completion as there are many companies that are aware of this significant development and are watching with interest. Because of the sheer size of our country we will have people flying across the continent to see the ZRR3 in action. Such is the interest in the system,” Duncan says.