Growing population, rapid urbanisation and economic growth have caused a global waste management crisis that is spiralling out of control.

According to a report published by the World Bank, annual global waste will reach unsustainable levels, increasing by up to 70% on current levels by 2050 affecting ocean life, climate change, and air quality.

To combat this escalating problem, further innovations in the waste industry are urgently required.

Technological advancements including the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning to design future recycling machines could be the answer.

Trash-sorting robots

The most recent innovation in the waste management arena are trash-sorting robots that are able to sort and pick recyclable materials from general waste.

They are equipped with capacitive sensors, cameras and advanced deep learning algorithms to determine the size and stiffness of recyclable materials and distinguish between metal, plastic and paper objects.

Recycling centres world-wide have started to use these types of robots to simplify the processes and reduce the back-end cost of recycling.

Waste ballers and compactors

Waste compactors are used to reduce the size of the solid waste material by compacting it to conserve valuable space at landfill sites (www.miltek.co.uk).

Waste compactors are usually used by businesses that produce huge amounts of corporate waste to reduce the volume.

However, there are also waste composting machines that can be used by homeowners as kitchen appliances to compact household rubbish including food waste, glass bottles, plastic objects and paper.

Most waste compactors use hydraulic presses to squash and compact trash, but need to be chosen specifically for the type of material that needs to be compacted.

There are different types, sizes and configurations of waste compactors available.

The similarity between waste balers and compactors is that both machines reduce the volume of the trash for easy storage and transport.

However, the difference between them is the fact that while compactors compress large amounts of trash only to reduce its size, balers process recycled materials to form dense and consistent shaped bales.

Compressing and resizing waste makes it easier and more convenient to be handled or transported.

Reversible vending machines

Reversible vending machines for collecting waste have rapidly gained popularity in countries that focus their efforts to protect the environment better.

These machines encourage people to actively engage in recycling. They are often used for collecting aluminium cans and glass or plastic bottles that will eventually be recycled.

Countries that have joined the initiative of fighting against global waste pollution have created many attractive programmes to their citizens to recycle their waste.

People can dispose of waste in a healthy manner for our environment by placing it into the reversible vending machines in exchange for money or loyalty points.

The machine pulls the bottles out of people’s hands, scans it and separates it in plastic or glass objects.

Many supermarkets around the world have introduced these machines to encourage their customers to recycle by obtaining discounts for their products in return.

Reversible vending machines for recycling are indeed an innovation of the waste management industry by engaging recycling experiences for end users, the people who choose to recycle.

Food waste recycling machine

Food waste is one of the largest concerns because it is extremely hard to convert food waste into useful materials or products.

Moreover, around 1.3 billion tons of food waste annually represents a large percentage of all landfill refuse.

Food waste produced by households world-wide isn’t even close to the amount produced by restaurants.

Food waste recycling machines are designed mainly for food waste produced by restaurants.

Those machines heat and dehydrate food waste to turn it into a nutrient-rich fertiliser.