Any old clothes!

Automated system enables intelligent sorting of used textiles.

The mountain of old textiles continues to grow in Germany every year. Less than one per cent of this enters a closed recycling loop. Reasons for this include so-called "fast fashion", which leads to an increasing amount of low-quality textiles, as well as the wide variety of materials, which makes efficient recycling even more difficult. Today, sorting is mostly done manually and is almost impossible to manage given the quantities involved: Of around 1.4 million tonnes, only about 200,000 tonnes are actually checked and allocated. The rest is thermally recycled or exported abroad. Automated processes are therefore a key lever for keeping significantly more used textiles in circulation.

The Recycling Atelier at the Augsburg Institute for Textile Technology (ITA)* is tackling this challenge. As a model factory, it maps the entire process of mechanical textile recycling. The focus is on a holistic concept that does not optimise individual sub-processes but rather takes the entire system into account. This approach led to the development of DETEX – an Ai-based system for the automatic sorting of textiles. With the help of artificial intelligence and two high-resolution uEye XC cameras from IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH, DETEX captures the essential features of the garments and assigns them precisely to specific categories. This makes sorting more accurate and lays the foundation for efficient recycling.

Why is sorting old clothes so important?
Before worn-out trousers, T-shirts or jumpers can be turned into something new, they must first be mechanically processed. The aim of this process is to create entirely new fabrics from the used garments. To achieve this, they are shredded, freed from buttons or zippers, and broken down into individual fibres. Preserving fibre length during this process is crucial to the quality of the recycled material produced. Differences in fabric structure and areal density must also be taken into account during processing. Precise classification into material categories is therefore essential and determines the subsequent handling of the textiles. Until now, sorting has been done mainly by hand – a time-consuming process that requires a high level of expertise. In other industries, such tasks have long been performed by automated, Ai-supported recognition systems. This is precisely where DETEX comes in: The research project is developing and testing Ai models designed to make the sorting of used textiles significantly more efficient.

How does the system work?
DETEX relies on intelligent image processing to automatically recognise and classify textiles. Two high-resolution industrial cameras provide the necessary images by scanning garments as they move along a conveyor belt. Neural networks analyse the images and recognise patterns and structures based on previously learned data. To enable this, they were trained in advance using a large number of sample images, including photographs of various garments as well as close-up images of different fabric types. At least 3,000 samples per clothing category were required. This training data had to be manually categorized beforehand, for example by labelling an image of trousers as “trousers“. On this basis, DETEX can quickly and reliably assign new images to the appropriate textile categories.

For precise analysis, DETEX works with pre-trained neural networks – one model each for classification, object recognition and material identification. Different architectures and scenarios are being tested. This allows different degrees of difficulty and realism to be simulated in order to test how robust the Ai models are against folds, overlaps or rotations. 

Initially, an object detection model analyses the images captured by the first camera mounted above the conveyor belt. It determines the type of garment, such as a T-shirt, trousers or a dress. The second camera scans the garments again from a height of approximately 5 centimetres, focusing on material properties and the detection of features such as stains or buttons. The identified image sections are cropped and passed on to a second Ai model, which classifies the type of material – specifically distinguishing between woven and knitted fabrics. Finally, the analysis results are clearly displayed on a screen.

Which cameras are used?

uEye XC Starter Set

For image capture, the Augsburg-based institute relies on uEye XC cameras from IDS, specifically the uEye XC Starter Set. The complete package includes a camera, tripod, cables and a macro lens, providing a ready-to-use solution for the research project. Key factors in the camera selection were its compact design, 13-megapixel sensor and ease of use, as Martin Kohnle, Project Manager for Ai & Digitalisation at ITA, explains: “The uEye XC is as easy to use as a webcam, but has been specially developed for industrial applications. It delivers razor-sharp images even with varying object distances or challenging lighting conditions.” 

In addition, features such as a 24x digital zoom, auto white balance and automatic colour correction ensure precise capture of even the finest details. As a genuine industrial camera, it was designed with long-term component availability in mind – an important advantage over conventional consumer webcams.

The Augsburg-based team relies on the free IDS peak camera software for image processing integration. The Software Development Kit (SDK) provides all necessary programming interfaces and tools for operating and controlling the cameras. “IDS peak enables straightforward and high-performance integration of our cameras via USB3 Vision. The uniform SDK structure greatly simplifies development, control and image acquisition. This enables us to implement our AI-based image processing workflows more quickly and adapt them flexibly”, Kohnle confirms.

What’s next?
The textile recycling market is increasingly moving towards data-driven, Ai-based processes that require high-quality image data in real time. This increases the requirements for camera quality, synchronisation and API compatibility for the recycling studio. Research focuses in particular on the flexible integration of various sensor technologies into adaptive sorting and analysis systems.

DETEX itself is also set to evolve: What is currently a conveyor-belt-based system will be expanded into a modular, mechanical-robotic overall solution that addresses both recycling and reuse. At its core will be a free-fall system enabling multi-perspective, 360° capture of textiles. In addition, a downstream, two-sided shot by robot-assisted grippers will allow for detailed analysis of further material characteristics. This approach makes it possible to capture a significantly broader range of information and to assign textiles even more precisely to suitable recycling or reuse pathways. Another important step towards a closed recycling loop – supported by industrial image processing.

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* The Recycling Atelier at the Institute for Textile Technology Augsburg (ITA) is a model and learning factory for mechanical textile recycling. The team is researching pioneering methods for the circular recycling of textiles. The vision: High-quality recycling instead of landfill and energy recovery.

@IDS_Imaging @mepaxIntPR #Pauto 

Sustaining lithium-ion recycling plants.

Korea’s SungEel HiTech Co., Ltd., a specialist in lithium-ion battery recycling, has selected Emerson to provide advanced automation solutions in support of sustainable production and operational efficiency goals at the newest of three lithium-ion recycling plants located at SungEel’s Hydro Centre complex in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do.

Through the combination of Emerson’s process automation technology and SungEel HiTech’s unique battery recycling methods, the collaboration aims to establish a robust resource cycle that will help enable a more stable supply of battery materials for electric vehicles in pursuit of bolstering the world's overall production capacity.

LtoR: SungEel HiTech CEO Yi Kang-Myung,
Emerson chief sustainability officer Mike Train
and Emerson VP North Asia, ChenFai Chung.

“Our automation portfolio and expertise are empowering our customers to optimise and scale the circular economy for critical battery components, a key step towards meeting global net-zero targets head-on,” said Mike Train, Emerson’s chief sustainability officer.

SungEel HiTech operates a comprehensive battery recycling ecosystem across nine global locations, including a recycling park for collection and pretreatment, and a hydrometallurgical battery material production facility at the Gunsan Hydro Centre. The upcoming third Hydro Centre plant will be triple the size of the first two, contributing to increased production capacity that can supply raw materials for approximately 400,000 electric vehicles each year.

“As the battery recycling market continues to grow, the significance of automation solutions to improve productivity and process efficiency is increasingly apparent,” said ChenFai Chung, vice president and general manager for Emerson in North Asia. “We are proud to work with an innovative leader like SungEel HiTech to contribute to the advancement of battery recycling technology.”

Emerson will supply advanced instrumentation and valve solutions that provide the high levels of performance, accuracy and reliability required for the advanced proprietary hydrometallurgical processes that SungEel HiTech uses. The package will include a variety of flow, level, pressure, and pH sensors and transmitters, as well as robust control valves that are critical to safe and reliable operations.

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@EmersonExchange @Emerson_News @EMR_Automation @HHC_Lewis #PAuto #EV #Korea

Management change!

In autumn 2009, Tetyana Hammel became managing director and shareholder of ARJES GmbH. A mechanical engineering company for recycling technology, which initially had just 19 employees when it was founded two years earlier, but experienced rapid growth in a very short time.

Due to her roots and family ties to the mechanical engineering industry within Ukraine, she was able to take the first significant steps in the economic strategy of ARJES and thus made vital contributions to the ultimate growth and success of the company.

In addition to her personal connections with their two partner plants in Ukraine, Mrs. Hammel has also been involved in event planning, organization and implementation of international trade fairs such as IFAT and Bauma in recent years. But the personal well-being of her employees at the Leimbach (D) site was also close to her heart, which is why she always showed great dedication to the ARJES team, which now numbers more than 160.

Tetyana Hammel and Thomas Hayn

Now, 15 years after the foundation of ARJES GmbH, Tetyana Hammel is saying goodbye as managing director and shareholder, with Thomas Hayn now continuing on at the company as sole managing director. In a comment the company said. "We would like to thank Tetyana Hammel for her time of service and wish her all the best going forward."

@PresseBox #arjes #PAuto #Recycling

Industrial shredder control.

Industrial shredders crush materials made of plastic, wood, metal, and waste to a required size. Depending on the requirements, each shredder is made up of different components, which are to be operated efficiently without damaging the machine. In addition to robust hardware, an extensive software package is needed to control the shredder. However, the software programming requires appropriate know-how and ties up the manufacturer's capacities.

With the Motion-Axis Shredder software template, the automation specialist Baumüller in Nuremberg (SPS Fair 2022 (Nov 8-10) is introducing a template for the recycling branch to the market. It saves developers lots of time, particularly during a project's start phase, and they can fully concentrate on the process programming. The template contains a large number of the required machine functions as well as motion modules for making the servo motors, templates for the machine visualization, and functions such as EtherCAT diagnosis, commissioning mode, load balancing, and water cooling control.

The already programmed subsystem contains frequently needed machine functions for crushing and can be easily loaded into the shredder control system. The movements then merely have to be parameterized. The machine programmer no longer has to worry about the basics during development. For the machine builder, this means a faster time to market, and significantly reduced development expenditure.

The software package is suitable for single and twin-shaft crushers, with and without feeders, and can be integrated into different hardware concepts.

Template with all basic movement control functions.
In addition to the shortened development time, with the Motion-Axis Shredder software template, machine manufacturers also benefit from the recycling industry technology experience. For example, the operation of two motors with load balancing in one shaft is already preprogrammed. The customer only has to integrate the existing communication interface, and can then, among other things, control the shredder shafts directly via a speed setpoint. The machine template can be used to control a maximum of two crusher units, each with two dualwinding motors as well as a motor for the feed.

An EtherCAT gateway (eg ethernet IP/EtherCAT slave) as well as an OPC UA server are available as the interface for the transfer of data to a higher-level control between different devices, for example, visualization or Edge controllers. Other interfaces can be added on request.

Template for machine visualization and improved diagnostic options.
In addition to the necessary motion libraries, among other things, the Motion-Axis Shredder template also contains general templates for implementation of the visualization. Thus, for example, the user interface can be used to diagnose the current template status or to check the interface values. It can also be used to activate a manual mode for setting up the control or for testing the subsystem. The subsystem can therefore be operated as a stand-alone and without a connection to the higher-level control.

The template also contains a function for commissioning. For example, if two motors are coupled mechanically to a shredder shaft, both motors can be actuated separately and thus the shredder motor can also be operated with only one motor. The function is particularly helpful for test purposes.

By using appropriate remote maintenance solutions, it is also possible to set up a remote connection to the control system. Thus, when service is needed, the machine can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and in compliance with the highest security standards.

In addition to the software package, the system solution for shredders includes the complete main drive system with high-torque motors, servo converters, and mains rectifier units, including control cabinet construction, as well as the control technology with hardware.

@be_in_motion @PresseBox #Automation #Motion

End of life plastics to replace fossil raw material.

"A solution that supports sustainable practices and helps advance our goals to preserve resources.”

ReNew ELP is a British-based advanced recycling company. It has selected Emerson as its digital automation partner for its new plastics recycling plant in Teesside, north-east England. Emerson’s advanced automation technology and software will help achieve safe, efficient operation of an innovative hydrothermal process to convert end-of-life plastics back into their original feedstock to produce new plastic products, reducing waste and pollution.

Currently, many post-consumer plastics, including flexible and multi-layer plastic packaging items, such as films, pots, tubs and trays, are considered ‘unrecyclable’ via traditional mechanical recycling methods and are instead sent to landfill or incinerated. After a short first-use cycle, 95% of plastic packaging material value, or $80-120 billion  (€69 - €104 billion) annually, is lost to the economy, according to the World Economic Forum.

“By converting end-of-life plastics into fossil-replacement feedstocks, ReNew ELP has the potential to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic and make the raw ingredients for a circular plastics economy, creating value instead of waste,” said Richard Daley, managing director, ReNew ELP. “Pivotal to achieving these goals is the construction of this first commercial-scale plant using a unique hydrothermal platform, and in Emerson we have found a valuable, long-term partner to create an advanced automation model for further plants planned across Europe.”

The ReNew ELP plant will utilise a ground-breaking advanced recycling process called HydroPRS™ (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling System), that uses supercritical steam (high pressure and temperature) to convert waste plastics into the valuable chemicals and oils from which they were originally made. These products can then be used to manufacture new plastics and other materials.

“The HydroPRS process is currently undergoing a Life Cycle Assessment by Warwick Manufacturing Group to understand both its environmental impacts and Global Warming Potential (GWP), alongside the CO2 savings from diverting plastic waste away from incineration and into advanced recycling,” said Daley. “Initial findings indicate a significantly reduced GWP when compared to energy from waste (incineration) and a favourable comparison to fossil naphtha, supporting the ambition of a viable pathway to net zero.”

As the main automation contractor, Emerson will be responsible for developing a complete automation and control solution to ensure safe, efficient operation of the demanding production process with minimum operator intervention. Emerson’s Project Certainty methodology, which digitalises project execution, will help deliver the plant on budget and on schedule, while its Operational Certainty methodologies will help ReNew ELP realise maximum operational performance and profitability over the lifecycle of the facility.

“Emerson has the ability to support the environmental sustainability goals of industrial companies through greater efficiency, expanded use of cleaner energy sources, emissions capture and improved management of waste materials,” said Roel Van Doren, group president of global sales at Emerson. “Through collaborative project engineering, advanced digital solutions and lifecycle services, Emerson will help ReNew ELP create a solution that supports sustainable practices and helps advance our goals to preserve resources.”

As part of the automation solution, Emerson will provide an integrated control and safety system, incorporating its DeltaV™ distributed control system and DeltaV safety instrumented system for process and emergency shutdown, plus fire and gas detection. Emerson’s Plantweb™ digital ecosystem, incorporating wired and wireless networks that support clusters of advanced measurement instrumentation, will provide visibility to process performance and actionable data about equipment health. The automation system will feature a broad range of severe service and general-purpose control valves, on/off valves and pressure control technology. A range of asset management solutions will be deployed to enhance equipment reliability and increase process availability and throughput, while minimising the time operators spend in the field performing manual inspections.

The plant is expected to become operational in late 2022, with the first phase including one of four recycling lines, each able to process 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year.

@Emerson_News @EMR_Automation @ReNewELP @wef  @HHC_Lewis #PAuto #Waste

Robotics for recycling & waste.

AMP Robotics Corp. has installed its first AI-guided robotics systems with Recyco,  the leading recycling and waste management business in Northern Ireland (Omagh, Co Tyrone).

An AMP robot in operation on a fibre line

The project includes two robots—a single AMP Cortex™ unit along with a tandem unit—installed on Recyco’s fibre lines for quality control to improve pick rates and bale purity. Recyco is the first deal closed with REP-TEC Advanced Technologies, AMP’s recently appointed official reseller and integrator for customers in Britain or Ireland, with several other projects in negotiation.

“We’re delighted to bring our first robots to the UK and Ireland as we continue to see strong demand for our AI and automation solutions and build our pipeline in Europe,” said Gary Ashburner, European general manager for AMP. “Recyco has been a superb partner in this process, and recognizes our technology addresses chronic staffing challenges it and many recyclers face, while aligning with its goals of maximizing recovery, increasing landfill diversion, and advancing sustainability.”

AMP’s proprietary technology applies computer vision and deep learning to guide high-speed robotics systems to precisely identify, differentiate, and recover recyclables found in the waste stream by color, size, shape, opacity, and more, storing data about each item it perceives. AMP’s sorting technology can pick upwards of 80 items per minute, about twice the pace of a human sorter, and the company has recorded up to 150 picks per minute with its tandem units. The company’s AI platform can quickly adapt to packaging introduced into the recycling stream with recognition capabilities to the brand level—increasingly critical as demand for sufficient quantities of high-quality recycled material grows to meet consumer packaged goods companies’ commitment to use of post-consumer recycled content.

"AMP's robots have quickly doubled the pick rates we were accustomed to, maintaining and even improving the purity of our bales, which we depend on to maximize prices with our end-market buyers," said Michael Cunningham, owner and CEO, Recyco. "We're proud to be leading the way for AI-powered recycling in these islands, and look forward to continued gains in productivity and efficiency."

“It’s great to have our first robotics installation go live this month, with the project running very smoothly from start to finish,” said Colm Grimes, founder and CEO of REP-TEC. “We started the installation on a Friday evening, and by Sunday evening, we had both Cortex systems ready for the shift starting the next morning.”

AMP now has more than 160 systems installed globally, covering North America, Asia, and Europe. The company’s AI platform, AMP Neuron™, encompasses the largest known real-world dataset of recyclable materials for machine learning, with the ability to classify more than 100 different categories and characteristics of recyclables across single-stream recycling; e-scrap; and construction and demolition debris, and reaching an object recognition run rate of more than 10 billion items annually.

@AMPRobotics @REP_Technology @letsrecycle #Pauto #Recycling #Ireland

Agreement targets used but rarely recycled plastic.

Emerson has signed of a multi-year agreement with PureCycle Technologies, Inc. to provide advanced digital technologies and automation for a network of global facilities enabling large-scale recycling of a common – but rarely recycled – plastic.

Emerson's Mike Train, & Dustin Olson,
PureCycle Technologies, sign the agreement
to create ‘born digital’ facilities to transform
polypropylene recycling.

Emerson’s Plantweb™ digital ecosystem was chosen for its breadth of digital solutions, including intelligent sensors and control valves, advanced operations software and systems, cloud data management and analytics.

“Unlike traditional manufacturing facilities coping with transforming legacy platforms to digital, PureCycle’s progressive approach will enable all future facilities to be born digital,” said Dustin Olson, chief manufacturing officer of PureCycle Technologies. “With Emerson’s help, each PureCycle facility is expected to start up with the most advanced digital automation technologies available, allowing for faster project completion, fully integrated systems, and world-class operating performance.”

Polypropylene, identified as resin recycling code #5, is one of the world’s most frequently produced, versatile and widely used plastics. Despite more than 170 billion tons being produced each year, less than 1% is reclaimed annually for recycling and reuse. Polypropylene is commonly used in production of food and cosmetics packaging, toys, automobile parts and more.

“PureCycle’s first-of-its-kind technology purifies waste plastic to remove colour, odour and other contaminants to create a near-virgin Ultra-Pure Recycled Polypropylene suitable for nearly any application,” Olson said. “This provides a pathway to reverse low rates of global polypropylene recycling and opens new opportunities for the plastics supply into all polypropylene applications.”

“Sustainability is driving incredible innovation across the industry,” said Mike Train, chief sustainability officer of Emerson. “New policies and long-range goals for decarbonisation give us vision and direction that are important to the industry and to society. Emerson’s digital automation software and technologies are helping companies like PureCycle make practical and measurable progress toward these goals today.”

@EMR_Automation @Emerson_News @PureCycleTech @HHC_Lewis #Pauto

Composting efficiency.

Ashtead Technology has been appointed as the exclusive distributor in Ireland & Britain for two innovative products that help waste managers improve composting efficiency; protect staff and site safety from waste fires; avoid odour complaints; protect the environment, and comply with the latest regulations.

Freeland's George Longmuir with Ashtead's 

Ben Travis

Developed by Freeland Scientific, ‘CompostManager’ is a complete system for managing the composting process, and ‘smarTprobe’ is a temperature monitoring system for compost and other wastes where overheating and fire represent a potential hazard.

Freeland Managing Director George Longmuir says: “This is an extremely exciting time for our business. CompostManager has been proven at over 85 sites around the world, and the smarTprobe system was launched for waste management licence holders seeking to demonstrate effective fire prevention plans. Both systems employ the Best Available Techniques (BAT) required by the (British ed) Environment Agency.

“As a small company our focus has been on the development of technologies that precisely meet the needs of the waste management sector, so this new partnership with Ashtead Technology will raise our profile enormously and provide a broader spectrum of waste managers with access to products that will benefit their businesses immediately.”

Probes in compost heap!

CompostManager consists of a portable probe and measurement system that records the key factors affecting composting efficiency: temperature, moisture, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Representative batches are measured in situ with a test that takes about one minute to perform, and barcoding ensures traceability of data. Collected data is then transferred to a PC and uploaded to a website which provides suggested management instructions such as ‘Turn’, ‘Irrigate’ and ‘Leave Alone.’ This ensures that unnecessary turning is avoided and that composting is as efficient and fast as possible, whilst minimising the production of bio-aerosols and odours. As well as demonstrating effective management practice, the system also produces PAS100 reports.

The smarTprobe system consists of robust temperature probes that are inserted into piles of bulk materials that have the potential to catch fire. The probes communicate wirelessly with a central server which displays continuous readings via a secure, password-protected website. A colour-coded display enables users to check the temperature profiles of their waste piles at a glance, and the system automatically issues warnings before dangerous conditions arise.

British fire and rescue services attend around 300 significant fires at waste sites every year, so the potential for the smarTprobe system is enormous if these fires are to be prevented.

Commenting on the business benefits for customers, Ashtead’s Ben Travis says: “The Freeland products employ best available techniques to provide traceable data, which demonstrates that a site is being managed properly and is in compliance with both fire safety and environmental regulations. This dramatically reduces risk, which will be of great interest to business owners and insurers. As a further benefit the systems also deliver operational efficiency, so we foresee enormous potential for these products.”

 #Safety #Environment @ashteadtech @Freeland_Sci @_Enviro_News

Is industry ready for the circular economy?

EU Automation has published an industry guide for manufacturers interested in making their production method more sustainable by contributing to the circular economy. The guide can be downloaded, free of charge, from EU Automation's website, under the Industry Guides section.

The circular economy focuses on keeping resources at their highest utility and value at all times. As well as minimising waste and energy losses, it also improves the environmental impact of manufacturing and reduces the risk of obsolescence.

A report published by ABN AMRO and Circle Economy argues that the automotive industry is in a unique position to use circular economy principles to implement new strategies and collaboration across the entire value chain. EU Automation believes there is similar potential for other industries. In its latest one page guide, the industrial automation spares supplier has compiled a series of relevant resources for companies taking their first steps towards a circular economy model.

The concept of the circular economy was first raised by two British environmental economists, David Pearce and Kerry Turner. They suggested that a traditional open-ended economy had no built-in tendency to recycle and that, if the economy was to continue as it was, the environment would become a waste reservoir.

Pearce and Turner formulated the circular economy as an alternative to the traditional linear economy model of make-use-dispose.

"There is a lot of support for businesses wanting to follow a circular economy business model, if they know where to look," explained Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director of EU Automation. "The UK trade body for automation, control, instrumentation and laboratory technology, GAMBICA offers support for manufacturers who want to comply. Furthermore, the European Commission recently established the Ecodesign Directive which ensures manufacturers of energy-using products reduce energy consumption and the environmental impact of products at the design stage."

@euautomation #PAuto @StoneJunctionPR

Reagent recycling scheme awards ‘green’ companies

In recognition of their outstanding commitment to recycling, HACH LANGE has awarded two companies with silver bars made from recycled chemical test reagents.

HACH LANGE manufacturers pre-prepared chemical test reagents that significantly improve the accuracy and simplicity of water testing.

The company’s Recycling Centre in Germany facilitates recovery of toxic materials from reagent tubes including Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) cuvettes from which Mercury, Silver and Chromium are recovered. Over 70% of returned materials are either re-used or recycled.

Customers are encouraged to recycle used HACH LANGE reagents, and to recognise the recycling achievements of two customers; Scottish Water and NWL Scientific Services, HACH LANGE has presented them with a special award.

Paul Burton, Environmental Laboratory Manager at NWL Scientific Services, said: "As a company we recycle as much as we possibly can and ensure that all used reagents are disposed of as ethically as possible. This is why we fully support HACH LANGE’s recycling initiative and gratefully receive the award for our own efforts."
David McMullan of Scottish Water added: "It is a key company ethic of ours to be as environmentally-friendly as possible and so it was a natural choice to become involved in HACH LANGE’s scheme for recycled COD reagents. We are very pleased to have received this award and would urge other firms within the water industry to adopt similar recycling policies."

Thousands of cuvette tests are used every day to analyse the contents of liquids in industries such as water, wastewater, manufacturing, food, beverage and power. HACH LANGE’s recycling service helps companies comply with waste management regulations and improve environmental performance and has recently been commended at The German Sustainability Awards in the Most Sustainable Products and Supply of Services category.

Martin Small, from HACH LANGE’s Laboratory Team added: “The recycling service has proved extremely popular and we are delighted that high-profile customers are leading the way for others to follow.”