Why GV Macero invests in AI waste analytics
GV Macero SPA – one of Italy's most important waste paper reprocessors – recently invested in Greyparrot's AI waste analytics system, adding waste intelligence to its decades of expertise in collecting and recycling waste paper since 1957. It's the latest in a series of investments that have grown the company's processing power to 75,000 tonnes per year – and built its reputation as one of Europe's most valued providers of high-quality waste paper.
GV Macero aims to build on that momentum with Greyparrot's technology, using AI waste analytics to track recycling rates for composite materials like Tetra Pak, to improve sorting efficiency, and to monitor the quality of their end products. The latter is a crucial use-case for GV Macero, which turns waste fibre into high-quality products like deinked pulp – a fibre byproduct used in newspapers.
“We have noticed that many materials escape optical sorters for various reasons. Artificial intelligence is crucial because it can visually identify the type of packaging, such as Tetra Pak, even when materials are overlapped. It can also certify the quality of our finished product. Deploying a Greyparrot Analyzer on the end of the product line helps us assess the quality of the deinking process, and keep track of any contamination”
Sergio Vavassori, Owner of GV Macero SPA
The opportunity: Optimized recycling for post-consumer composite materials
GV Macero has decided to seize the opportunity to improve the recovery process of composite materials by adopting Greyparrot’s technology. Currently, in Italy, composite materials are collected only minimally, primarily in a few proactive municipalities. With the increase in multi-layer materials used in packaging, especially in the food sector, recycling processes need to improve to enhance recovery. In most cases, these materials are discarded, treated as non-recyclable waste, and sent to incinerators.
GV Macero, in collaboration with the “faro” project by Lucart and Tetra Pak, is the first sorting plant in Italy to take advantage of the opportunity to recover post-consumer composite materials to increase recycling rates. This is an important objective because separating the aluminium and PE foil from fibre is a crucial step in recovering food-grade cellulose pulp, a valuable raw material for paper production.
The solution: Pre and post-sorting analytics
GV Macero deployed two Greyparrot Analyzers on the infeed and outfeed lines of its plant to analyse the entire operation's performance. Importantly, monitoring infeed material enables their operators to track the amount of composite materials arriving at the plant – a prerequisite for the "faro" project in collaboration with Lucart and Tetra Pak.
“This is the beginning of a process that is directed towards improving recycling. The real kind, and not the hypothetical kind.”
Sergio Vavassori, Owner of GV Macero SPA
Monitoring the outfeed line enables GV Macero to check the quality of the deinking process:
"GV Macero's objective is a live analytics system that could certify products destined for paper mills, introducing traceability for the bales leaving its plant. At the same time, its operators need to analyse infeed material in real-time to adjust sorting processes, and control the material being distributed throughout the plant.”
Simone Pagani, Owner of Rixera SRL, Greyparrot's agent for Italy
With Greyparrot's Alerts feature, GV Macero's plant operators can now anticipate changes in the quality of the outgoing product by tracking incoming material. Operators set alert thresholds to detect purity dips as they happen – when quality drops below their targets, notifications help them diagnose and correct sorting issues before the entire batch is contaminated.
Why GV Macero chose Greyparrot as an AI partner
Simone Pagani, owner of Rixera SRL (Greyparrot's agent for Italy) and Sergio Vavassori, Owner of GV Macero
In the search for an AI waste analytics provider, GV Macero turned to Greyparrot for its expertise, and its association with Rixera - the AI company's commercial partner in Italy.
Rixera's expertise and decades of experience in optimising waste recovery bolstered trust in Greyparrot's technology, and led to the eventual investment. Greyparrot's association with industry leaders and partners like Bollegraaf - one of the world's largest recycling plant builders - reinforced the conviction that Greyparrot was the right partner to tackle GV Macero's recycling challenges.
Building a long-term AI strategy
The partnership between GV Macero and Greyparrot is a practical step towards more efficient fibre sorting and recycling in the short term, and a long-term indication of the shape modern recovery facilities will take.
“We're now finding that artificial intelligence is absolutely essential to our vision of more autonomous, intelligent and profitable recovery facilities.”
Sergio Vavassori, Owner of GV Macero SPA
Having recognised the technology's ability to make recycling more accurate and efficient, GV Macero now sees AI as fundamental to the future of automated waste management.
Thanks to a collaborative ethos and open integrations, Greyparrot's AI waste analytics systems are supporting GV Macero's vision for the next generation of intelligent, automated facilities.
“With the integration of artificial intelligence in waste sorting plants, we will experience the birth of a ‘new era’ that will definitely strengthen the circular economy.”
Simone Pagani, Owner of Rixera SRL, Greyparrot's agent for Italy