Dutch waste management leader Omrin deployed the Greyparrot Analyzer system to gather live material data at its mixed waste sorting facility — but automated monitoring revealed far more than waste composition alone.
Visibility into a single product line is helping Process Engineer Karin Wolters optimise the sorting process, and plan for an automated future.
Keep reading to learn how Omrin uses AI to reduce manual analysis, enable instant alerts for faster reactions, improve material recovery and pave a path to full automation.
Why Omrin needed data to increase yield
Omrin is on a mission to close the Netherlands’ circular loop for the well-being of future generations. They’re doing it by turning mixed waste into reusable resources, reducing CO2 emissions in the process.
The company’s Heerenveen separation plant processes over 311,000 tonnes of household waste each year, sorting material into six high-quality streams for reprocessing and recycling.
Until recently, the Omrin team had to manually keep track of yield and stream purity. For Process Engineer Karin Wolters, manual analysis didn’t provide a complete picture of performance:
We conduct manual sampling three times a week to determine the purity of our material streams. With manual analysis, though, we only learn about quality and performance at a particular moment — we know that if we do it three times an hour, we get three different results.”
- Karin Wolters, Process Engineer at Omrin
With material composition changing every minute, Wolters needed more information than three weekly samples in order to maximise yield. The Omrin team wanted the ability to adjust machinery like airjets and optical sorters in response to composition shifts, rather than reacting in hindsight.
To achieve that, they decided to automate their waste analysis process.
Bridging the operational data gap with Greyparrot Analyzer
After seeing the Greyparrot Analyzer system in action at a partner organisation’s facility, Karin and the Omrin team deployed an Analyzer unit on one of their outfeed lines.
By replacing irregular manual sampling with live waste data, Omrin traded expensive manual samples for detailed performance monitoring, and more cost-effective operations:
With 24/7 data, we can reduce our manual analysis to just one sample a week. We get a lot more visibility at a lower cost.
That allows us to look at things like shift patterns, how performance changes throughout the day, and highlight any trends in sorting accuracy or purity that might inform the way we manage our operations.”
- Karin Wolters, Process Engineer at Omrin
That allows us to look at things like shift patterns, how performance changes throughout the day, and highlight any trends in sorting accuracy or purity that might inform the way we manage our operations.”*
– Karin Wolters, Process Engineer
When coupled with features like Alerts, live waste data helps the Omrin team adapt to immediate changes in throughput and composition.
For us, adopting Greyparrot Analyzer was a way to get more process control.
With continuous data on our material, I can maximise yields by tweaking processes in response: a little more airflow in our drum separator, or a bit of adjustment on the near-infrared system.’’
- Karin Wolters, Process Engineer at Omrin
With a single Greyparrot Analyzer unit on a key product line, Omrin can now flag changes in material purity, diagnose the root cause, and take action within minutes — rather than waiting for the next scheduled manual analysis.
Planning for end-to-end sorting automation
While Karin and the Omrin team are the ones making process adjustments today, they are already thinking of new opportunities for AI to act on their behalf:
The further we come in the AI adoption process, the more applications we start to think of. The Greyparrot team has also been really cooperative in finding solutions for our specific facility.
Eventually, we would like to integrate the system with machinery like our air drum separator – using AI to increase or decrease their activity in response to changing material composition.’’
- Karin Wolters, Process Engineer at Omrin
Along with automated machinery adjustments, Omrin also has its eye on cross-facility monitoring. The composition of mixed household waste is often incredibly variable, and live infeed monitoring unlocks proactive optimisation:
The municipal waste we receive varies so much. The more information we have about it, the more we can spot certain patterns or materials arriving in the facility, and respond.
If we can gather data across the facility and combine those insights, we’ll know what the most optimal process flow is.”
- Karin Wolters, Process Engineer at Omrin
For now, Omrin’s team are using Greyparrot Analyzer data to react faster than ever to changing product quality. That same data is helping them build a business case for major infrastructure investments. In the future, they’ll be able to optimise their sorting process before material even reaches the sorting line:
We plan to use this data to guide and assess future investments. It’s helping us understand the ROI we might get from certain infrastructure — including a new facility.”
- Karin Wolters, Process Engineer at Omrin
We’re delighted to work with process experts like Karin that use our technology to improve today’s operations — while keeping one eye on tomorrow’s.
Learn how more global facilities are applying AI waste analytics here.
