AMP sortation using AI with CEO Tim Stuart

https://ampsortation.com/

The future is now with AMP sortation technology using AI tech and more! 

Thank you CEO Tim Stuart for sharing your insights and wisdom about the present day and future of waste sortation. 

https://www.coastfilmfestival.com/coast-summit

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/

I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.

This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

0:54

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is Mr. Tim Stewart, the CEO of Amp. How are you, sir? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on. I'm a big fan of your company. I think what you do and what your company does is so important for the future of sustainability and packaging. I was really excited to have you on today, but, I wanna talk about your background. Before we get into the details of amp, can you tell us how'd you get into this, world of sustainable packaging? Yeah, I've, I had a, a great c career in the waste industry about 30 years. And, I got the opportunity to join amps board about 18 months ago as their first independent board member, being a closer look into, different sides of the industry. And, about six months into it, they asked me to come on as their CEO and, partner with the team here as we continue to move forward. Excellent. Sounds like a perfect background for amp. Can you tell us more about what AMP does and why it's so vital to the circular economy? Yeah. We, we take our technology, our AI systems and apply it to, recycling and MSW processing. to in layman's terms that ai. Is the vision, to, really tell the equipment what to do with that material. it takes all of the manual sorting out of the process and which makes us, much more effective and efficient. if you've had the opportunity to see a recycling facility, there's usually lots of people touching lots of material and trying to put it in the right spot. So this, our system really takes all that manual labor out and the smart systems. Through AI and jets and cameras, pushes that to the right, spot. So much more efficient and effective, really the next level of recycling beyond where it is today. It's an incredible process. It's amazing to watch. If you've never been to a mur RFA material recycling facility and you're listening, please visit one and try to get one with automated equipment from amp. It's exciting to see. it actually takes pictures of every single product, that goes down the line and then it sorts it based on its shape, which I was blown away by. Yeah, we look at colors, textures, shapes. We can look at logos and, I can tell you how many Starbucks cups came through the line on a given time period. And, so all that data could be used as, as well from education standpoint, going forward. That's a really important point. I think we need to realize that customers are going to be, or producers as they're called now, are going to, need that data in the future. So that's something that you'll have at your fingertips to, to share with them, and I'm sure that'll be very valuable information to them. Absolutely. Yeah, well said. So I wanted to talk a little bit about some of these, labeling initiatives and things like that. Things like how to recycle, those labels. Are they helping your system be more efficient? Yeah, I think, I think they're really, those are those and those types of, kind of educations are really designed more for the consumer, right? And. Obviously that helps us. We get more material and we can recycle more. so I think any type of education and making it easier for people to recycle, which, the industry has done that over the last, 15, 20 years, continue to make it easier with the goal of, recycling more material. Yeah. I went to an event yesterday, the International Fresh Produce Association put on about all their new innovations in packaging. It was really interesting to see. I, their biggest concern was extended producer responsibility, and I wanted to get your thoughts as the CEO of a sortation, company. do you feel like that extended producer responsibility will add value to the processing of, waste? Yeah, I think, the EPR programs that are coming out and, these are state by state kinda led initiatives. And I think how they design those and how they use those funds will really. really, demonstrate or have a bigger impact. No, I'm, I grew up in Michigan and, Michigan had a bottle bill or still has the bottle bill, and I can tell you I'd go to construction sites when I was 10 and 15 years old, and that's, that was a good way to make some money for, buying what I needed to buy. But, and you've seen states that have had those in place and just look at. Bottles or glass, their recycling percentages are double the normal averages. So those types of programs work. And I think the, the EPR we're working with, the states to help design those. And again, it's just education. There's collection and there's processing and how they, set those up and, how they, disperse those funds would be very important. It's exciting to see, and I agree with you totally about the deposit return systems. I live in Oregon where we have a similar model bill and it's incredibly effective and, I think a lot of people are comparing EPR to these, deposit returns systems because it's basically what it will be on a larger scale. And I think you're right. It's gonna be very effective if done properly. There was a quite a bit of concern yesterday about the, the fee rates and all of that, but I'm sure we'll be able to negotiate that and come to a system that makes sense for everybody. Absolutely. I wanted to see if, your company has any thoughts on kind of the store drop off programs and, have you talked to anyone about downscaling one of your systems to be maybe an onsite sortation system? yeah, good question. so today our systems are really designed to, be, where the material is brought to you from a higher density and scale perspective and to do that. I think as technology continues to improve and the efficiency of that's gonna drive down the capital expense. Associated with that. And, so the answer is Cory, not today, maybe not tomorrow, but maybe someday in the future, that, as these systems become, very inexpensive to run and very module, you can go do that. I think you're right. I think it's, necessary to think five years, 10 years, 20 years down the line. because maybe there won't be as many material recycling facilities. Maybe there'll be more regionalized, ma. Maybe there'll be more local. I don't know. We'll see how that works. but I think what you're building is a really awesome part of the. The solution of a more sustainable future, because in the long run we wanna get that material back and we want to use it again for, to turn it back into packaging. Absolutely. that's the best use of that material instead of, going to a landfill. And, unfortunately, as you, as well, the, a lot of the recycling that can be recycled is still in the MSW or going into the garbage. And we have, we're working on systems that can pull that out of the garbage. And so we're excited to do that as well as we continue to expand this AI technology into, different sources for us to recycle. Are there any notable advancements you can tell us about in, in recent history for your technology? so I'd say that what I was just talking about, we started a pilot program in Port Smith, Virginia. And, really going after that, that biggest, opportunity is in the MSW, the, or the garbage. And we've had a huge success rate of, taking that system that we applied to single stream recycling and applied it to MSW and we're pulling out about 20%. of the material is your considered your normal plastic, your aluminum, your bottles, paper products. That if we hadn't done that was gonna go to a landfill. there's huge opportunity to go after MSW and this technology is. Like we talked about before, it looks at, texture and size and, shapes and labels and it can dis distinguish between all of that and, instantly push that material to the right spot. So we're excited about taking that technology and applying it in this form going forward. what does MSW stand for? I'm sorry. I dunno. It's full solid waste, It's okay. It's an industry term, for garbage basically, or household waste. it's a fancier way to say garbage. I haven't heard that term. Municipal solid waste. So MSWI, I should know that as a packaging person, that's important to, to distinguish that there are so many acronyms that in packaging it's tough to keep up. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think you're right. We are basically, Yeah, anything that goes into the landfill is a wasted opportunity. And in my opinion, for reuse or for recycling or for compost. And I think this, the future, in the near future, I think we're gonna have a lot of investment. I know there's billions of dollars going into sortation recycling, composting, reuse programs with all these EPR fees. I believe that's the intent of those fees. what kinds of things are, do you feel like are having the biggest impact? Is it these large scale murphs that you and Amp are a part of? Yeah, I think, population density, all those things make it more effective to. build these, bigger facilities, these bigger mfs. but I think the EPR are the EPRs are gonna focus on maybe that secondary markets or, smaller markets that don't have the size and scope, but they still have the same amount of material kind of per capita. And, try to create. Incentive for companies, to establish shop and do recycling or collection in those, in those markets. So I think it's a combination of both. that, yeah, I think we'll have the biggest impact to improve that. I agree. I think that's exactly right. We need to have both in our scope. Let's talk a little bit about packaging, from your perspective as somebody on the back end of the process. What would you ask people like me that works for Atlantic Packaging? What would you ask me to do for our customers as far as designing for recyclability? Yeah, I think I'll give you three things. think of, recycling as you're creating the packaging for it. And, and that's just, making it simpler to recycle. the second thing is, the product that you use to package the material, there needs to be value or reuse of that in the market.'cause it costs money to. Beyond packaging it, it costs money to process that and to get that ready for market. And there's gotta be a value for that. otherwise it's not gonna, it's gonna make its way back to the landfill and, keep things simple so that you know that single material type. really helps the folks like amp been able to make that more efficient to, to pull that material out. keep us in mind when you're designing and, make sure the material has a, has an end market and use the same material in the whole packaging. And I think those would be huge, benefits, for the recycling side. Absolutely correct. We need mono materials, we need things that are valuable. Do you work with companies to advise them if the material they're, considering, would be, good for your systems? Yeah, we haven't, we haven't gone down that, path yet. but, it's a good, it's a good idea and I think a good opportunity for us to expand our footprint from that standpoint. we've mostly worked with, the large haulers and the municipalities that, that are, you know, in charge of these recycling programs. we haven't gone, further down the chain from that standpoint, but it's a, it is a great idea. That makes sense. I'd love to have somebody like a Mars company reach out to you and say, Hey, is this recyclable? will this go through? can we send you some of these and see if they work? And, I think that would be, that could be very valuable. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I think that's a great idea. what's next for amp? Do you have any secrets you can share with us? Or any exciting, new things coming out, or, where's your next machine going in? Things like that. Yeah, I think, we're, we're gonna continue to expand really on two fronts. it's the single stream, recycling that, really core to who we are and what we do. so we're gonna continue to build out a network of facilities and partner with. The, our third parties, and municipalities and on the MSW or the garbage sortation, we think there is great opportunity to go after, All that recycling and organics that you touched on earlier, we think there's ability to divert 50, 60% of that material that goes into a landfill today. We can go and reuse that, or recycle that into a different form or a different product in the future. So we're gonna spend our efforts really working on that. In addition to continue to invest in our technology, and I think there's, ability to make it more efficient, more effective, and again, drive down the cost that we can spread that further, than where we can go today. I remember the first time I saw an amp. System. It was at Waste Expo, I think maybe six or seven years ago, something long time ago, and I was so absolutely blown away by it back then. So I know that the, your technology has, jumped leaps and bounds in, in front of that. And so I wanted to commend you and your company for making something that's having such a large impact on the sustainability of packaging. Yeah, appreciate that. And lots of dedicated hard, hardworking folks that, the sustainability is front and center to them and, that they're passionate about, making this world a better place. So it's, it's a fun place to work is could you make something that would sort organic waste, like for a compost facility? Yeah, so what we're doing today is, as I talk about this MSW processing, we're pulling out. The organics and there's some, some shredded paper and some food waste associated with that. And there's really three different, ways to, to handle that material. There's, you can go directly into a composting type of environment. There's lots of, lots of parts of the United States that have a, mature infrastructure for that. So we're doing that. On the opposite side of that is there's a, is a biochar system. So running that through a system and we're capturing all those carbon and carbons and we can sell those carbons on the open market. So taking that, organics down to, I think one 10th of the amount to a char, and that char can be used in. road based material or cement at the byproduct. So there's lots of different things to do that. And in the middle of that is we can make an SRF or a, fuel substitute again for, cement companies or different, forms of fuel to get a, a secondary use associate that. the team's really working really hard on coming up with, lots of different solutions that fit, in different markets and for different customers, but, we believe we can use all of that organics in some form or fashion and not send that to the landfill. That is incredible. I had no idea that you were working on that. And I think you're exactly right. We need to use the material, the quote unquote waste and turn it into fuel and turn it into different things that are of value because, there's billions of dollars of, value that it we're just throwing away at this point. Absolutely. And, It's just, it takes a little, ingenuity and hard work and, and, we're excited to be on the forefront of that. Great. Well, thank you sir. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you and your team at amp? Yeah, I just, I think go right to our website at, amp robotics.com and, there's a bunch of information there and that they can direct you to if you have a specific question or want to get ahold of us in a certain way, that, that can direct you in the right way. Thank you, sir. Really appreciate your wisdom today. Be Thank you.