AMP wins 20-year contract in Virginia

US tech firm AMP has secured a 20-year waste processing contract with the Southeastern Public Service Authority (SPSA) of Virginia.

The deal is managed through Commonwealth Sortation, its local affiliate. It covers eight communities and 1.2 million residents. The contract builds on a two-year pilot in Portsmouth that used an AMP One line to process 150 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day.

AMP will now scale the approach across three facilities in the region. The company will combine AMP One sorting lines with a system targeting organics to process 540 000 tonnes each year. The aim is to divert half of SPSA’s incoming waste.

Precise, fast and smart

A previous AMP ONE facility processes around 25 tonnes per hour with over 90% uptime. This is said to be an ‘unprecedented level of reliability’ with a footprint that hasn’t previously been feasible economically. Legacy operations, particularly for mixed waste, typically have uptimes below 70%.

‘Our AI platform has identified more than 200 billion items and processed 2.8 million tonnes of recyclables so far,’ says company ceo Tim Stuart. More than 400 smart systems have been deployed across North America, Asia and Europe.

Reclaiming lost tonnage

Virginia recycles around 43% of its waste at the moment. SPSA will recycle 20% of material under the partnership. Investing in advanced sorting tech will also remove the need for separate recycling trucks and facilities. Additionally, annual CO2 savings equals taking 88 000 cars off the road.

Local studies show high levels of plastic and metals scrap in the waste stream, appear even in areas with kerbside recycling. AMP plans to capture these missing tonnes, rather than losing them to landfill or incineration.

‘Recycling rates have been stuck for both communities and the nation at large for the last decade and a half,’ Stuart says. ‘Projects like this one offer a new model for recycling, one that’s better aligned with local waste infrastructure.’