AMP ONE autonomously transforms single stream, municipal strong waste, combined plastics, and different infeeds into worthwhile bales. | Supply: AMP Robotics
AMP, a developer of robotic sorting know-how for waste and recycling, this week acquired the Portsmouth operations of RDS of Virginia LLC. RDS Portsmouth has been offering recycling companies in South Hampton Roads since 2005.
“We’re centered on enabling a brand new mannequin for the processing of municipal strong waste, and we see the success of our operations in Portsmouth as a blueprint for municipalities throughout the nation seeking to prolong the lifetime of their landfills and attain formidable diversion targets,” mentioned Tim Stuart, CEO of AMP. “As we develop, we’ll proceed to judge potential acquisitions that may allow the processing of extra tonnage by our techniques and additional exhibit the impression of our know-how on waste economics.”
Since late 2023, AMP has operated an AI-powered AMP ONE system to course of regionally sourced municipal strong waste (MSW) in Portsmouth. The system is able to dealing with as much as 150 tons of MSW per day, separating recyclables and natural materials from bagged trash with over 90% uptime.
Geared up with this know-how, the power is able to diverting greater than 50% of landfill-bound materials when paired with organics administration and combined recyclables sorting techniques, the corporate claimed. Along with the MSW processing facility, RDS Portsmouth’s operations additionally embrace a single-stream facility, which AMP mentioned it hopes to develop within the close to future.
AMP and RDS share values
Based in 2014, AMP mentioned its AI platform has recognized greater than 200 billion objects and guided the sortation of greater than 2.7 million tons of recyclables. The firm raised $91 million in funding on the finish of 2024.
“I’m pleased with the corporate my group and I constructed over the past 20 years, and I’m excited to see how AMP builds on that basis,” mentioned Joe Benedetto, former president of RDS Portsmouth. “Extracting recyclables and natural materials from MSW is capturing extra of the worth in our waste, which is important with communities shuttering recycling applications attributable to rising prices. The way in which AMP is processing MSW right here in Portsmouth reveals what’s potential with cutting-edge know-how.”
This newest acquisition is the latest step AMP is taking to shifting past being a know-how developer and turning into an working firm. Stuart spoke about this with The Robotic Report earlier this 12 months.
“We’re turning into extra of an working firm,” he mentioned on the time. “So, we’re going to take this know-how and associate with different firms or municipalities to function their amenities.”
How robotics might make recycling simpler
AMP’s newest strikes are steps towards its objective of processing extra recycling supplies and lowering the variety of objects that find yourself in landfills yearly. It isn’t the one robotics firm with the objective, nevertheless.
San Francisco-based Glacier is one other distinguished developer within the house. The corporate raised $16 million earlier this 12 months and deployed a fleet of its robots with Recology’s King County Materials Restoration Facility (MRF) in Seattle.
As well as, EverestLabs, a Fremont, Calif.-based developer, gives the RecycleOS sorting robotic.
