Once completed, the sorter will be installed at the COGERSA’s Open Lab in Asturias, Spain — more than 2,500 km away from its development site — marking an important milestone for this ambitious European collaboration!
The cybersorting pilot plant is part of PLASTICE’s broader mission to address one of the key challenges in plastic recycling: the difficulty of sorting complex and contaminated plastic waste streams. Today, only around 20% of plastic production is recycled, while the rest is often landfilled or incinerated due to technical and economic barriers in current recycling systems.
Designed by our team at I-SENSEGroup/ICCS in Athens, this cutting-edge system leverages digitalisation technologies to improve the sorting, recovery, and circularity of complex plastic waste streams, one of the biggest challenges facing recycling systems today.
To tackle this issue, PLASTICE is developing innovative technologies that go beyond conventional mechanical recycling. Alongside advanced sorting solutions, the project is demonstrating new valorization processes such as microwave-assisted pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, gasification with chemical post-treatment, and cascade enzymatic hydrolysis. By integrating digital tools, eco-design principles, and circular business models, PLASTICE aims to significantly reduce plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions while supporting the twin transition towards a more digital and circular plastics economy.
Photo credits: I-SENSEGroup
