The recycling industry is seeing a boom in demand for paper products at the same time that the coronavirus pandemic has made it critical for workers to maintain social distance. Now some cities and municipalities are debating whether recycling should be considered an essential service amid the outbreak.
This presents an opportunity for robotics to help fill in the gaps left — literally — between human workers, Matanya Horowitz, founder AMP Robotics, told Cheddar.
"It gives the facilities different options for what they want to automate and what they want to keep manual," Horowitz said. "What a lot of facilities are doing right now is they are using robots to basically space out their workers."
Recycling plants are not easily adapted to meet social distancing guidelines, due to the highly manual nature of sorting and cleaning recycled materials.
"They have to worry a lot about worker safety in these facilities," Horowitz said. "The way a lot of these facilities are designed, a lot of the workers work pretty closely together, so social distancing isn't always easy to maintain."
AMP Robotics is making the case that robots can fill in the space between human workers who are tasked with weeding out trash from recycling materials. The robots use artificial intelligence to determine which products can be recycled and which should head to the landfill.
"There is a huge demand for all this recycled cardboard and paper and newspaper in the industry, essentially to supply things like toilet paper and new boxes due to everyone staying home and ordering all these things online," Horowitz said.
"Anywhere else that there may be an elevated risk to the sorters, we could potentially deploy a robot," he added.
AI, BNPL and new digital tools are reshaping holiday shopping. PayPal’s Michelle Gill shares survey insights, tech trends, and tips for smarter spending in 2025
'The Chair Company' blends sharp satire with workplace conspiracy. Lake Bell joins us to talk its corporate themes, quirky characters, and why viewers love it!
It's a tough time for the job market. Amid wider economic uncertainty, some analysts have said that businesses are at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill. At the same time, some sizeable layoffs have continued to pile up — raising worker anxieties across sectors. Some companies have pointed to rising operational costs due to U.S.'s new tariffs, while others have redirected money to artificial intelligence investments. Workers in the public sector have also been hit hard. Federal jobs were cut by the thousands earlier this year. And many workers are now going without pay as the U.S. government shutdown has now dragged on for more than a month.
Nvidia smashes earnings with record-breaking revenue and soaring Blackwell demand as shares slip this morning, Barron’s senior writer Adam Levine unpacks it all
Jeff Wagoner, CEO of Outrigger Hospitality Group, discusses the company’s coral preservation initiatives and sustainable practices at their hotels and resorts.
Dena Jalbert, Head of M&A at Align Advisory, discusses the state of mergers and acquisitions in 2025 and beyond, highlighting key trends and opportunities.
Kim Perell, author and entrepreneur, shares actionable tips and tricks to help current and aspiring entrepreneurs kick off 2026 with confidence and momentum.
Computer chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly earnings report that is expected to either deepen a recent downturn in the stock market or prompt an ebullient sigh of relief among investors increasingly worried the world’s most valuable company is perched upon an artificial intelligence bubble about to burst.
