Sponsored by Ecogenesys (formerly REPIC), the programme aims to give those who are within the first seven years of their careers in the recycling and waste sector opportunities to learn about the industry.
Two of the 25 scholars attended yesterday’s event with similar site visits being held in Telford and Huddersfield.
The scholars were joined by representatives from local authorities in the surrounding area and team members from both Ecogenesys and LARAC.
SWEEEP was founded in 2006 and acquired by Finnish Kuusakoski in 2010. Its site in Sittingbourne, Kent, processes small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).
Rachel Naden, project officer at Westminster city council and LARAC Scholar, discussed her experience at the facility: “Today was fantastic. It set the scene as to the mountain of waste and the many different types of WEEE that have to be dealt with.
“It also highlighted for me how difficult the processing is for bits of tech that we can easily throw away. A big theme of the day was the rise of ‘fast tech’. These things are cheap, but the reality is that they are costly to dispose of.”
After the tour of the facility, Lion Vision delivered a presentation to the guests on the AI trial they run at the SWEEEP facility.
The pilot has seen AI sensors installed to detect batteries and collect data on batteries as they work their way through the plant.
Lion Vision, which is owned by Helios Fire Systems, hopes to use the data to raise awareness of battery fires and eventually move to ejecting the batteries from the stream using air jet streams.
LARAC Scholars programme
The LARAC Scholars programme is currently in its 20th year, with Ecogenesys (formerly REPIC) having acted as sponsor for the past nine.
The scholars are able to attend LARAC’s annual conference for free and are also offered several site visit opportunities organised by Ecogenesys.
Georgia Perry, contracts monitoring assistant at West Sussex county council and LARAC Scholar, said: “LARAC Scholars has been a great opportunity for me.
“I’m very new to the waste industry, having joined about a year ago. Meeting new people and being able to discuss ideas and learn different things in all areas of waste has really helped me develop my own knowledge base and career.”
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