Eagle Vizion recently received $1 275 000 in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to support the development of an innovative black plastic optical sorting unit. The project, valued at $4M overall, is being led by Sherbrooke OEM and Eagle Vizion within a consortium involving other partners. The financial support received from SDTC will go towards the design, manufacture, and showcasing of an industrial-scale unit.
Black plastics account for up to 20% of all plastic waste streams. However, they are difficult to detect and sort with the current NIR (near-infrared) detection technology, which is absorbed by black. The technology being developed by Eagle Vizion will be able to recognize and separate the different polymers and materials, regardless of their colour.
This investment is part of a funding initiative totalling more than $206M announced by the Government of Canada to support 36 clean technology projects in Canada. (Sources : Sherbrooke Innopole and SDTC)