Sense2Sort Toratècnica is family owned and more than 20 years developing and producing sensor-based sorting machine for recycling. The owner and CEO started to develop first sensor-based sorters in the 90ties working for Mogensen GmbH & Co. KG, Germany. Later successfully started his first company SSE GmbH together with CommoDaS GmbH to introduce the first sensor-based belt sorters for the Metal Recycling for the recovery and sorting of non-ferrous metals. After the CommoDaS group was purchased by Titech/ Tomra he started his own company. Today those machines are state of the art in every downstream of a metal recycling plant world-wide. Sense2Sort is the Brand name of Toratècnica products and still trendsetter for new sorting solutions in Recycling.
Interview with Eric van Looy, CEO of Sense2Sort Toratècnica, S.L.U.
What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Eric van Looy: Developing sorting machines for Recycling is in our blood, besides manufacturing standard machines, we focus on customized solutions for the recovery and sorting of valuable materials and resources to minimize waste and to increase reuse and sustainability. The past years are active in EU funded projects as well to support new ideas and solutions for Europe and its goal to be less independent on virgin materials from oversea and Asia. It is known that we still landfill and incinerate too much valuable materials, because of the lack of installed technologies, which are able to recover much more of those materials. Although Europe is working on new legislations and rules to increase recycling quota in Europe, still many is not done good enough. With latest projects such as REEPRODUCE, ad EU funded project we have designed and built a sensor-base semi-mobile sorting installation using Vision in combination with AI and XRT (X-Ray Transmission) to identify and recover Nd permanent magnets from EoL devices coming from EEE and Automotive material streams. New projects such as RESTORE, another EU funded project is meant to develop new ways to sort all kind of batteries to be recycled and reused into new products using X-Ray tomography technology to be able to read the inside materials of those batteries and be able to separate them not only by design but by their material composition. Sense2Sort uses all available technologies and is working on other innovative and groundbreaking ideas for Recycling and its circular economy.
What’s the news about new products/services?
E.v.L: Latest news is the sorting of Black Plastic. This item is not solved sufficiently yet and millions of tons of valuable plastic is landfilled and exported every year in Europe and even more world-wide. With this new solution, using other properties of matter with electromagnetic fields that are in the frequency range different from what has been used today in Recycling plastics.
What are the ranges of products/services?
E.v.L: Our core business is sorting technology for Recycling, we offer additional customized solutions. With almost 3 decades of experience in this area we find ways to come to suitable and economic solutions for our customers. Accessories like Eddy Current Sorters, Magnets or even small size installations are possible. With our latest LIBSense and XRFSense we are equipped with those sorting machines that are able to separate important material streams post Shredder to recover and sort heavy metals and aluminum alloys, using Binary and MultiSort machine designs.
What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
E.v.L: The metal and plastic recycling industries are evolving rapidly due to a combination of regulatory, technological, and market-driven factors. Both sectors are experiencing increased attention, as they play a crucial role in sustainability and the circular economy of Europe esspecially. Governments and companies worldwide are prioritizing sustainability goals to reduce carbon footprints and resource consumption. Recycling metal and plastic helps in reducing landfill waste and curbing greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives. For instance, the European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan emphasizes recycling, while countries like China are enforcing stricter waste import laws that encourage local recycling.
Steel, aluminium, and copper are the most recycled metals, experiencing high demand due to their energy-saving and cost-efficient recycling processes. Aluminium recycling saves up to 95% of the energy needed to produce new aluminium, making it highly popular in industries like automotive and aerospace. Innovations in scrap sorting and metal separation technologies are making metal recycling more efficient and cost-effective.AI-powered sorting and robotics are reducing contamination in scrap metal, leading to higher-quality recycled products. The rise of EVs is leading to a spike in demand for metals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt, spurring recycling innovations to recover these critical metals from used batteries. Battery recycling is projected to become a significant sub-sector in metal recycling, driven by the need to manage EV waste sustainably.
What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
E.v.L: Most innovative products today in metal recycling are XRF and LIBS based sorting methods. Using these spectroscopic analytics for the identification of material composition based on their elements in real time is today’s latest solution to improve the reuse of recycled metals. Sense2Sortr offers both technologies in their Binary and MultiSort machines
What estimations do you have for the rest of 2024?
E.v.L: Our estimation for the rest of 2024 is to work on our actual EU projects as well as the continuation and expansion of our customer service and development of new sorting solutions for the near future.