Highly automated facility in Pitt County, North Carolina, demonstrates opportunity in rural recycling
AMP Robotics Corp. (“AMP”), a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered sortation at scale for the waste and recycling industry, has installed an advanced recycling system to process approximately 10,000 tons of single-stream and commercial recycling annually at the Pitt County Recycling Center. Located in Greenville, North Carolina, the facility is owned and operated by Recycling and Disposal Solutions of Virginia (RDS). RDS expects to begin processing material in June.
RDS, with AMP as a partner, was awarded a processing contract from Pitt County in July 2023 and purchased the facility. RDS undertook a modernization effort to upgrade the facility to more efficiently process recyclables at a lower cost, installing a complete AMP ONE™ system powered by AMP’s AI-enabled sortation technology. The partnership and technology solution ultimately enabled the preservation of recyclables processing in Pitt County.
AMP and RDS began working together in 2017. Two years later, RDS purchased its first AI-powered sorting system from AMP to make its Roanoke, Virginia, facility safer and more efficient. The companies are collaborating on additional opportunities.
“When I first started working with AMP as an operator, I said AI technology is one of the best investments you can make, and if I were starting a new facility, I wouldn’t do it without AMP’s AI,” said Joe Benedetto, president of RDS. “AMP was flexible in delivering a solution that overcame the limitations of traditional sortation economics. AI provides a notable efficiency boost when incorporated into existing facilities, but it’s even more impactful when it’s designed in from the outset—that’s why it’s so powerful to commission a facility with AMP’s technology.”
AMP’s facility designs can scale to match capacity with supply, including software-enabled configuration changes and modular sorting lines. This flexibility enables regional diversion strategies that can capture greater amounts of material and lower per unit capital and operating costs.
“We’re proud to expand our relationship with RDS while helping to preserve access to a community recycling program at risk of being shuttered,” said Matanya Horowitz, AMP founder and CEO. “High transportation and sorting costs often make recycling unviable in small and rural markets. This project demonstrates how we can profitably open recycling facilities in underserved communities—which is rare in the waste industry.”
From this new facility, RDS can serve Pitt County’s 14 towns and cities as well as surrounding municipalities.
About AMP™
AMP is applying AI-powered sortation at scale to modernize the world's recycling infrastructure and maximize the value in waste. AMP gives waste and recycling leaders the power to harness AI to reduce labor costs, increase resource recovery, and deliver more reliable operations. With hundreds of deployments across North America, Asia, and Europe, AMP’s technology offers a transformational solution to waste sortation and changes the fundamental economics of recycling.
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carling@ampsortation.com
