PRSE 2025 : TOMRA to showcase advanced sorting solutions for PPWR compliance

With the 2030 PPWR target of 70% recyclability for all packaging rapidly approaching, the industry is under increasing pressure to adapt. The legislation mandates significant recycled content targets, driving innovation in packaging design and recycling technologies. TOMRA's comprehensive suite of solutions - including AI/deep learning, precision tuft sorting and sophisticated waste analysis - will play a key role in enabling recyclers and brand owners to meet these requirements effectively.

TOMRA's experts will be on hand to demonstrate how its advanced sorting solutions are essential to meeting PPWR recycled content targets and ensuring compliance with evolving food grade standards, including Bisphenol A (BPA) restrictions. With the increasing use of AI and cloud technologies in waste analysis, visitors to the TOMRA stand will also be able to learn more about how TOMRA Insight can optimise sorting performance through online monitoring of material streams and customisable reporting, while PolyPerception's waste analyser uses cameras for real-time material analysis and classification at key points in the sorting facility.  Together, these solutions can enable data-driven decision making and increase efficiency in sorting facilities.

Visitors will also be able to discover the latest developments in TOMRA's advanced sorting solutions:

• AUTOSORT™ with GAINnext™: Using deep learning-based object recognition to automate complex sorting tasks, GAINnext™ outperforms traditional optical methods, resulting in significantly higher material purity, reduced manual sorting and continuous performance optimisation in food-grade applications and PET stream cleaning. GAINnext™'s ability to discriminate between food grade and non-food grade material simplifies the process of achieving 95% food grade material purity, especially when combined with TOMRA's advanced sensors such as Near Infrared (NIR).
• INNOSORT™ FLAKE: This TOMRA innovation offers flexible flake sorting by polymer, colour and transparency. Users of the INNOSORT™ FLAKE can now benefit from even higher purity in PET sorting thanks to the new UV sensor, which enables the seamless removal of contaminants and discoloured flakes. In addition to PET, the system can detect PP, PE, PVC, PS, ABS, PA and many other polymer types, making it a cost-effective solution for processing mixed flake inputs with high contamination levels.
• AUTOSORT™ FLAKE: Designed for consistent and exceptional sorting performance in advanced applications and where bottle-to-bottle quality is required. 

Fabrizio Radice, SVP & Head of Global Sales and Marketing at TOMRA Recycling, comments: “The PPWR necessitates a strategic shift for the industry. With brand owners globally sourcing materials to meet recycling targets, European recyclers must maintain high quality while reducing production costs to remain competitive. We not only offer the right solutions but also the experience and expertise to support the industry in navigating the complexities of the PPWR. Our technologies ensure reliability in sorting performance and stable output purity, yield and lower total operational costs, helping to support the industry’s journey towards full material circularity. Moreover, our advanced flake purification technologies will also be critical to remove materials known to contain BPA – a sorting challenge that is expected to become increasingly significant in the coming years.” 

Attendees in Amsterdam will also have the opportunity to hear about TOMRA's expertise in the new regulation at the PRSE conference. Bilyana Ignatova, TOMRA's Head of EU Public Affairs, will join the programme on Tuesday 1 April from 11:45 to 12:30 in Conference Theatre Two to address the critical implications of the PPWR.

TOMRA Feedstock, a dedicated company aiming to close the plastics circularity gap, will also be on stand B30. The TOMRA business unit is developing solutions to capture plastics that are currently incinerated or landfilled, and instead sort this material into clean plastic fractions that can be recycled.

Willem Christiaans, Head of Sourcing & Sales at TOMRA Feedstock, comments: “We are currently building two dedicated plastic recovery facilities: one in Norway which will be operational later this year, and one in Germany which will be operational in 2026. Collaboration across the plastics value chain is essential to advancing plastics circularity, and we look forward to discussing potential business partnerships that can make this happen at PRSE 2025.”