Eberhard Group partners with ZenRobotics to build groundbreaking AI-driven recycling plant

AI-powered sorting robots help convert C&D waste into high quality secondary raw materials...

Swiss-based circular economy pioneer Eberhard has made a major investment into a new recycling plant of 200 tons per hour that will convert mixed construction waste into valuable secondary raw materials as of fall 2021. Advanced AI and smart robotic waste sorting technologies by ZenRobotics will be used at the plant to capture high purity fractions from C&D waste. The recycled materials are then converted into new building materials for the construction industry. Eberhard’s plant is a hallmark example of circular economy innovation, turning waste into value and significantly reducing CO2 emissions and environmental pressures from resource extraction. 

The Eberhard Group is a Swiss family-owned company and long-term customer of ZenRobotics. Eberhard is building a new state-of-the-art recycling plant called EbiMIK (short term for Eberhard - materials in circulation) in Oberglatt, Switzerland, to be completed by fall 2021. The new high-capacity plant of 200 tons per hour will feature an advanced robotic sorting system by ZenRobotics that includes two parallel lines with multiple high capacity heavy duty robots on each line. The job of the robots is to capture high-value and high-purity materials from mixed construction and demolition. These recycled materials recovered by the robots will be converted at the new plant into circular raw materials of equal quality as primary materials.  

Eberhard’s new recycling plant is a hallmark example of the circular economy in practice and demonstrates how waste can be turned into new value. Construction and demolition waste is a considerable source of secondary waste materials worldwide. In the European Union, it makes up approximately one third of the total waste generated. The EU’s target is to recover, recycle or reuse at least 70% of this waste by the end of 2020. At present, many of the material streams from C&D waste are, however, not suitable for reuse or high-grade recycling. Instead, mixed construction waste is still widely used today as low grade material or is even dumped. In Switzerland, maximally 10 percent of the total 7.5 million tons of C&D  waste generated per year is sustainably recycled today. 

Eberhard’s investment into the new high-capacity recycling center enables the company to boost the highest quality secondary raw materials for its customers and helps to lift recycling rates in the C&D industry. In addition to the state-of-the-art construction waste plant, a raw material storage and a component production facility are also being built for the new EbiMIK recycling center.  

• The ZenRobotics robots with AI are a very important part of our revolutionary recycling plant EbiMIK. EbiMIK converts mixed demolition waste into fully circular secondary raw materials. Mixed demolition waste no longer needs to be downcycled into low grade materials or even landfilled, says Patrick van der Haegen, Division Head Development at Eberhard 
• The Eberhard Group is an early pioneer in heavy duty C&D sorting robots. The family business made its first investment into ZenRobotics’ smart autonomous waste sorting robots back in 2015. We are delighted that Eberhard is now multiplying its robot count by reinvesting into our advanced robot waste sorting system as part of this groundbreaking new plant investment, says Juha Mieskonen, Head of Sales from ZenRobotics.