PORTSMOUTH, Va. — While many people think about recycling during Earth Day, the process can be challenging and costly for localities and individuals. That’s why some are turning to technology for solutions.
Last year, News 3 shared that AMP Robotics Corp. (AMP) and Portsmouth's Recycling and Disposal Solutions of Virginia Inc. (RDS) started a pilot program at Portsmouth's Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Transfer Facility. The pilot program uses an AI algorithm to separate recyclables from regular bagged trash.
"Most of the effort goes towards teaching it new things; kind of brand-level identification, or specific plastic resins," explained Matanya Horowitz, founder and CTO of AMP told News 3 last September.
The facility, with the help of the algorithm, processes more than 100 tons of garbage a day.
Roughly one quarter of that trash consists of recyclables that have been discarded. There's also a large portion of organic waste like food scraps and yard debris, which commonly breaks down into methane, a greenhouse gas, when it decomposes in a landfill.
AMP now is exploring another option for that organic waste; turning it into biochar. Biochar is a charcoal-like substance formed when the organic material is heated in the absence of oxygen.
"What happens is the carbon in the biogenic material, essentially it carbonizes. In particular, it becomes a form of carbon that microbes can't break down. So, like the way if you leave food out to rot, bacteria and fungi are eating it, what's important about this is they're not able to eat it as biochar. It's been taken out of the carbon cycle and so it serves as a form of carbon sequestration," explained Horowitz.
Tuesday, Horowitz told News 3 biochar production is a compelling solution when disposing of organic materials.
"The destinations for organic material, like composting, end up being pretty tough to integrate with municipal solid waste projects. Composting requires a lot of land. When you're dealing with the volumes of municipal solid waste, you're talking huge amounts of land, which makes it really tough to find a suitable site. Biochar, on the other hand, is relatively compact and capital efficient," said Horowitz.
AMP believes that biochar can integrate effectively with municipal systems and can be utilized in many ways. Horowitz says it has a small footprint, can be made into carbon-negative concrete, helps cut down on odors and leachate at landfills, and can be used to enhance soil for agriculture.
"Is it more expensive to recycle in this way?" asked News 3 reporter Erika Craven.
"It isn't but it depends because you need to account for the whole system," said Horowitz. "You actually find that there's cost savings relative to having a separate recycling program. Typically, a separate recycling program will have costs associated with it compared to just throwing everything in the garbage. So yeah, when we can collapse the two together on the collection front, you're saving transportation to your house and the landfill . . . and what's particularly important is a landfill has a limited life. When you map things out and say, this landfill is full, you go further out. Those transportation costs add up quickly. And environmental impact is much higher in terms of carbon."
He says biochar production goes hand-in-hand with the AI sorting mechanism.
The company is creating biochar primarily in Colorado now. It plans to add biochar production to the Portsmouth facility with hopes to expand across the rest of Hampton Roads.
