Introducing Acoustic AI - A Revolutionary Technology for Plastic Classification

Written by Georgia Crowther, Founder and CEO

Do you have a waste stream that you’re struggling to separate? Need quality assurance for secondary-market materials? Struggling to identify sub-par products?

Close your eyes and listen. 

Tap on the table in front of you. If it is wooden, you will hear a familiar knock. On a glass? A clear “ting”. Your computer? The plastic  will thud, the . f aluminum will ring. 

Instinctively, you can associate these sounds with material. But how far does that intuition go? Can you tell the species of wood your table is made from? How full that glass is? The plastic resin - or aluminum alloy - your computer shell is made of? 

We can. 

Inspired by this acoustic–material connection, Reclamation Factory has invented a new way to sort materials. One that’s precise, affordable, and works where others fail. 

A Breakthrough for Plastic Recycling

To date, most material sorting technologies for plastics rely on visual and hyperspectral imaging. These methods are ineffective on highly-pigmented plastics and shredded or pelletized plastics. Furthermore, these methods are expensive, driving the industry belief that recycling is only economical at large scales. 

But Reclamation Factory’s Acoustic AI shatters those constraints. Our proprietary, patent pending model is color-, size-, and shape-invariant. It identifies resin types and additives even when materials are shredded, crushed, pigmented, or re-melted. This technology opens the floodgates to recycling new material streams, producing higher-quality recycled resins, and building recycling infrastructure for all scales.  

Do we Hear a Challenge?

Join a pilot of our material classification system - our Acoustic AI is ready to be challenged with new material streams and applications. Schedule a demo with Reclamation Factory below and hear how audio-based material classification can work for you.