Lixo launches Qualixo project to improve waste quality

In October 2020, Citeo launched a call for projects to identify how artificial intelligence can serve recycling and better waste management. 

Lixo has been selected with its Qualixo program alongside 5 other innovation projects. This project began in June 2021 for a duration of 18 months and involves all the players in this industry:

• Eco-organization: Citeo ; 
• Sorting centers : Kerval & Sotraval ; 
• Recyclers: Wellman (plastic, clear PET), Freudenberg (plastic, coloured PET), Norkse Skog Golbey (paper), ArcelorMittal (steel); 
• Valorplast: company involved in the organization of the take-back and recycling of plastic bottles and flasks; 
• Eurecka, a consultancy specializing in increasing the performance of sorting centers and recycling plants. 

Qualixo and all its members aim to develop a single tool enabling sorting centers and recyclers to :

• real-time monitoring of material flow composition (incoming and outgoing)
• detect dangerous undesirables
• share this information with the various players in the value chain

The stakes involved in these developments are far from being purely technical. There are also operational, communication and interoperability issues at stake. Lixo, Citeo and all Qualixo members are therefore aiming (beyond the development of the tool) to :

• Identify best practices for scaling up and industrializing these tools.
• Validate the relevance of these tools and make them interoperable between the various players in the value chain (sorting centers and recyclers).

To achieve its aims, Qualixo has 2 development strands: one concerns security and the other focuses on quality. The first will focus on the identification of dangerous, oversized and/or flammable objects at plant entrances, while the 2nd will concentrate on quality control of flows leaving sorting centers and entering recycling plants. 

This project is unique in France in terms of both its technical ambition and the number of stakeholders involved. The Lixo team is particularly proud to have such determined and relevant partners!

Stay tuned!

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