California Waste Solutions is expanding Pellenc ST optical-sorting capacity at its Timothy MRF in San Jose and installing new EverestLabs AI scanners at its 10th Street MRF in Oakland. The San Jose upgrade targets higher material recovery and product purity, while the Oakland scanners provide real-time item counting and belt-condition data. A further phase involving robotic or additional optical sorting is under consideration.
Why this mattersMRF operators are pairing optical sorting with AI data capture to raise recovery and purity as feedstock composition and contamination levels keep shifting.
- California Waste Solutions is increasing Pellenc ST optical-sorter capacity at its Timothy MRF in San Jose.
- The company is newly installing EverestLabs AI scanners at its 10th Street MRF in Oakland.
- The Oakland scanners will count items and report belt burden depth and exposed belt surface on the container line.
- California Waste Solutions has used optical sorting since the mid-2000s.
- A further phase under consideration could add robotic sorting, additional optical sorting, or both, based on the scanner data.
Mondelez International, PepsiCo and Pladis have launched a nationwide Belgian trial of digital watermarking technology to improve sorting of flexible food packaging for recycling. The pilot, run under the HolyGrail 2030 consortium with Fost Plus, AIM and Ceflex, embeds Digimarc watermarks read by Pellenc ST optical sorting equipment, with sorted material processed at Hündgen Entsorgungs in Germany. The project aims to build data ahead of a 2030 EU requirement for 10% recycled content in certain contact-sensitive plastic food packaging.
Why this mattersReliable sorting of flexible film is the main technical barrier to closing the loop on food-contact plastics ahead of the EU's 2030 recycled-content mandate.
- Trial launched nationwide in Belgium by Mondelez International, PepsiCo and Pladis
- Participants include Fost Plus, AIM (European Brands Association) and Ceflex
- Part of HolyGrail 2030 consortium, which comprises about 79 organisations
- Uses Digimarc digital watermarks embedded during printing, read by Pellenc ST optical sorting cameras
- Sorted film bales move from Fost Plus in Belgium to Hündgen Entsorgungs' sorting centre in Germany
- EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation will require 10% recycled content in certain contact-sensitive plastic food packaging from 2030
EverestLabs launched Navigator on 24 August 2026, a multi-agent AI platform for materials recovery facilities handling plastics, fibre and metals, combining vision, language and reasoning agents to monitor sorting lines and equipment. The company claims the system can lift facility throughput by 20 to 30 percent and is integrating it with Pellenc ST and Schneider Electric automation systems, with Caglia Environmental as an early customer.
Why this mattersAI-driven orchestration of sorting plants could raise recovery rates and ease EPR compliance reporting, affecting the recycled feedstock available to packaging producers.
- Navigator launched on 24 August 2026 by EverestLabs, a Fremont, California-based industrial AI company
- EverestLabs claims Navigator can boost facility throughput by 20 to 30 percent
- The platform targets what EverestLabs says is the 93 percent of raw materials currently unrecovered
- Caglia Environmental is named as an early Navigator customer
- EverestLabs is integrating Navigator with Pellenc ST and Schneider Electric automation systems
- The claimed performance figures are company-reported and not independently audited
