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About
Recycleye is an industrial AI company specializing in robotic sorting solutions and data analytics for the global waste and recycling industry. Its flagship products — Recycleye QualiBot® and Recycleye QuantiSort® — use advanced computer vision and 6-axis robotic arms to identify and sort a wide range of waste materials, including plastic polymers (PET, PP, HDPE), non-ferrous metals such as aluminium, fibre streams, cartons, and WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment). Designed to be retrofittable onto existing conveyor infrastructure, Recycleye's robots are engineered for robustness and reliability in demanding industrial environments. They complement human workers by handling high-volume sorting tasks with consistent precision, improving offtake purity and recovering more valuables from residual streams. Recycleye Insights is the company's analytics platform, providing waste facility operators with granular data on material throughput, composition, and robot performance — enabling smarter operational decisions and continuous improvement. Recycleye serves waste processors, materials recovery facilities (MRFs), and recycling innovators globally, helping them increase profitability, reduce operational expenditure (OPEX), and alleviate labor challenges. With proven deployments across plastic, fibre, carton, metal, and electronics streams, Recycleye is a leading technology partner for the circular economy.
Key Features
- 6-Axis AI Waste Sorting Robots: Retrofittable robotic arms powered by computer vision sort dozens of material classes — including plastics, metals, fibre, cartons, and WEEE — with speed and consistency exceeding manual picking.
- Multi-Material Recognition: Identifies and sorts plastics (PET, PP, HDPE, food/non-food grades), aluminium, fibres, cartons, cables, PCBs, and batteries, enabling highly granular material separation.
- Recycleye Insights Analytics Platform: A data analytics dashboard providing real-time and historical visibility into material composition, throughput, and robot performance to drive operational improvements.
- Retrofittable & Robust Design: Systems are designed to integrate with existing conveyor infrastructure, minimising capital expenditure and installation downtime for waste facility operators.
- Labour & OPEX Reduction: Automates high-volume sorting tasks to reduce reliance on manual labour, lower operational costs, and maintain consistent output quality around the clock.
Use Cases
- A plastics recycling facility deploys Recycleye QualiBot® to sort PET and HDPE bottles from mixed waste streams, dramatically improving offtake purity and commodity value.
- A materials recovery facility retrofits Recycleye robots onto existing conveyor lines to reduce manual sorting headcount while maintaining throughput during labour shortages.
- A WEEE recycler uses Recycleye's AI vision system to identify and separate cables, PCBs, copper components, and batteries from mixed electronic waste for downstream processing.
- A paper and cardboard recycler leverages Recycleye to detect and remove stray non-fibre contaminants from 2D streams, delivering cleaner bales to mills.
- A waste facility operator uses Recycleye Insights to monitor daily material composition trends and robot performance KPIs, using data to optimise sorting line configurations.
Pros
- High Material Purity: AI-driven sorting achieves purity levels difficult to attain manually, increasing the market value of recovered materials and improving offtake quality.
- Easy Integration: Retrofittable robots slot into existing plant infrastructure, reducing the barrier to adoption without requiring full facility redesigns.
- Comprehensive Analytics: Recycleye Insights gives operators actionable data on material streams and robot performance, enabling continuous operational optimisation.
- Broad Material Coverage: Handles a wide range of material types across plastics, metals, fibre, electronics, and cartons — making it applicable to diverse recycling operations.
Cons
- Enterprise-Level Investment: As a hardware-plus-software industrial solution, Recycleye requires significant capital investment, making it less accessible to small-scale operations.
- Physical Infrastructure Required: Deployment requires a compatible conveyor-based sorting facility; the solution is not applicable to businesses without physical waste processing infrastructure.
- Limited Public Pricing Transparency: Pricing is not publicly listed and requires direct consultation with the Recycleye sales team, which may slow down evaluation for prospective buyers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of materials can Recycleye sort?
Recycleye's AI systems can sort a wide range of materials including plastic polymers (PET, PP, HDPE — food and non-food grade), non-ferrous metals like aluminium, paper and cardboard fibres, cartons, and WEEE items such as cables, PCBs, copper, metals, and batteries.
Can Recycleye robots be installed on existing equipment?
Yes. Recycleye's robotic sorting systems are specifically designed to be retrofittable onto existing conveyor infrastructure, allowing waste facilities to upgrade their operations without rebuilding their entire plant.
What is Recycleye Insights?
Recycleye Insights is the company's analytics platform that provides waste facility operators with real-time and historical data on material throughput, composition, and robot sorting performance — enabling data-driven operational decisions.
How does Recycleye's AI recognise different waste materials?
Recycleye uses computer vision and machine learning models trained on vast datasets of waste materials. Cameras above the conveyor belt capture images, and the AI classifies each object by material type and grade, then directs the robotic arm to pick and sort accordingly.
Who is Recycleye designed for?
Recycleye is designed for waste management businesses, materials recovery facilities (MRFs), and recycling operators of all scales who want to improve sorting accuracy, increase material recovery rates, reduce labour dependency, and lower operational costs.
