New Taipei City’s first “smart” recycling plant using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the New Taipei Recycling Education Base, formally began operating on Wednesday last week, and is expected to help the New Taipei City Government process about 2,500 tonnes of recyclables per year.
New Taipei City Environmental Protection Bureau Deputy Director-General Shen Chih-hsiu (沈志修) and New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Liu Ho-jan (劉和然) on Wednesday inspected the plant near Charlotte Park — a landfill-turned-park in the municipality’s Wugu District (五股).
Using automated equipment and AI technology devised by Foxconn International Holdings Ltd and Da Fong Environmental Protection Co, the plant is a model for the recycling industry, which is labor-intensive. The plant not only cuts back on labor demands, but also increases how efficiently the 12,000 tonnes of trash from Wugu, Sanchong (三重) and Lujhou (蘆洲) districts is handled.
Photo: Wong Yu-huang, Taipei Times
Traditional recycling plants require workers to pick out miscategorized recyclables, requiring intensive labor and a large area, and are an eyesore for nearby communities, the bureau said.
The recyclables are first sorted manually on a conveyor belt, which then goes through an optical separator to categorize further recyclable plastics and paper, and a magnetic separator to help sort aluminum from other metals, it said.
The new plant is equipped with four second-generation robotic arms that can identify up to 17 different recyclable materials and can also distinguish between different plastic products, such as polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polystyrene, and high and low-density polyethylene, the bureau said.
The four arms can grab up to 220 items per minute, it added.
The city government said the plant would alleviate growing pressure on it to handle the trash issue caused by a large population and a spike in economic performance.
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