Scholars from LARAC study WEEE recycling intricacies

Sponsored by Ecogenesys (formally REPIC), the LARAC programme is designed to provide recycling and waste sector opportunities to individuals who are in their first seven years of their career, the chance to gain valuable insight into the industry.

A tour of the SWEEEP facilities was provided to the LARAC Scholars and welcomed team members from LARAC, Ecogenesys and local authorities representatives who are based in the surrounding area.

SWEEEP was founded in 2006 and acquired by Finnish Kuusakoski in 2010.

After the tour a presentation was provided by Lion Vision, detailing the AI trial they are operating at the SWEEEP facility.

The pilot has seen AI sensors installed to detect batteries and collect data as they work their way through the plant.

Helios Fire Systems, owners of Lion Vision aim to utilise this data to create awareness of battery fires and eventually develop a method of ejecting the batteries from the stream using air jet streams.

Rachel Naden, project officer at Westminster city council and LARAC Scholar, spoke about her experience in the facility, commenting “Today was fantastic. It set the scene as to the mountain of waste and the many different types of WEEE that have to be dealt with. It also highlighted for me how difficult the processing is for bits of tech that we can easily throw away. A big theme of the day was the rise of ‘fast tech’. These things are cheap, but the reality is that they are costly to dispose of.”