The Kent County Department of Public Works (DPW) provides sustainable materials management and solid waste management services to Kent County residents, with a goal of reducing landfill waste by 90% by 2030. The Kent County Recycling & Education Center, operated by the DPW, is the destination for mixed and single-stream recyclables collected in the six metro cities of Kent County, Michigan.
Kent County was one of the first customers to deploy the compact version of AMP’s AI-guided robotics system that adapts to space constraints. The system is a small-footprint, easy-to-install robot that provides materials recovery facilities (MRFs) with a consistent, reliable sortation solution for tight locations that are hard to staff or where existing labor could be redistributed. While the DPW evaluated other technologies, the retrofit solution that robots provide — especially the compact version — made the most sense with the facility’s footprint. The installation process was smooth and completed over a weekend. The Recycling & Education Center shut down on Friday and was back up and running on Monday.
The robots offer an attractive ROI of under two years and have been purely additive; without them, Kent County would have had to cut materials or services because they didn’t have people to perform critical sorting tasks. Almost immediately, the facility was able to drop three to four people off the line and thinks it will be able to operate without another in a quality-control position as the team continues to adjust. Operating with fewer people frees up site supervisors to focus their attention on other operational needs at the facility. In addition to the stabilization of staffing and the ability to operate with less labor, the other key result was improvement in material quality. With robots, Kent County achieved a cleaner sort on all grades of plastic it processes, and with the robots’ ability to prioritize the highest-value material, it has seen much improved quality in its #3-#7 bales.