London recycling plant tests future of waste sorting Robots enter rubbish line

A busy recycling facility in Rainham, east London is trialling robotic automation as the waste industry grapples with high injury rates, staff shortages, and growing pressure to modernise.

Owned by family-run firm Sharp Group, the plant processes up to 280,000 tonnes of mixed recycling annually, with workers sorting materials from shoes to broken concrete along fast-moving conveyor belts. The environment is described as dusty, noisy, and physically demanding, contributing to high turnover rates of around 40% a year, BBC writes. 

“This is a hazardous industry. While Sharp Group is proud of its safety record, work-related injury and ill-health in the sector is 45% higher than other industries. And the fatality rate is a sizeable multiple of the national average.”

At the facility, line supervisor Ken Dordoy highlights the strain on staff: “The belt is moving all the time, you're constantly picking. I go through a lot of pickers because they just aren't up to the job.”

To address these challenges, the company is testing a humanoid recycling robot called Alpha, developed by TeknTrash Robotics and built by RealMan Robotics. The system is being trained using artificial intelligence and virtual reality, with workers helping guide its movements to teach it how to identify and sort waste.

“The market thinks these robots are prêt-à-porter, that all you need to do is to plug them to the mains and they will work flawlessly. But they need extensive data in order to be effectively useful.”

The technology uses multi-camera systems and machine learning to process millions of data points daily, aiming to eventually allow the robot to operate continuously in place of human pickers.

“The attraction of a humanoid is that you can put it here and it stays here. It will pick all day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's not going to apply for a holiday, it's not going to have a sick day,” says Chelsea Sharp, plant finance director.

Other companies are pursuing different automation models. US-based AMP Robotics uses AI-powered air jets to separate materials, with CEO Tim Stuart claiming: “Our robots are much more efficient than humans, probably eight or 10 times the pace. The AI technology and jets have really increased the capacity and efficiency and accuracy of what we can do.”

Meanwhile, Glacier uses robotic arms and AI systems to sort waste, highlighting the unpredictable nature of materials entering recycling plants. Co-founder Rebecca Hu-Thrams noted facilities have encountered “unbelievable things like hand grenades and firearms coming through their facility”.

Across the industry, experts say automation is becoming unavoidable. Yale professor Marian Chertow argues: “Robotics coupled with AI-driven vision systems offers the greatest potential for improving material recovery, worker experience, and economic competitiveness in the recycling sector.”

Back in Rainham, however, concerns remain about the future of human labour in such environments. Chelsea Sharp acknowledges the conditions are difficult: “This is a really dirty place to work. You can see the dust, you can hear the noise. It's not that nice.”

While the company says staff will be retrained to oversee and maintain robots, the shift marks a broader transformation in how waste is processed—and who, or what, will do the work.

By Sabina Mammadli