Tetra Pak has announced the final phase of a three-part 2025 investment programme to upgrade food and beverage carton sorting capabilities in the UK: the installation of AI-powered optical sorting technology for the first time in Scotland.
Tetra Pak has financed the production and installation of innovative AI-powered optical sorting technology at Levenseat Resource Management’s materials recycling facility (MRF) in Central Scotland, in collaboration with British technology start-up, Recycleye. The technology, known as Recycleye QuantiSort®, uses AI and cameras to detect beverage cartons within the mixed materials waste stream, and pneumatic valves are then used to eject them so that they can be sent on to be recycled.
This upgrade will enable Levenseat Resource Management to enhance the sorting of food and beverage cartons for recycling. The company serves a large area, including Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumbartonshire. The announcement of funding for Levenseat follows two other upgrades at MRFs earlier in the year, bringing Tetra Pak’s total investment in UK sorting infrastructure in 2025 to £1.4 million.
As the first site announced in May, J&B Recycling in Hartlepool received two new robotic sorting arms, also produced by Recycleye. In July, Cumbria Waste Management in Carlisle became the first site in the UK to use the Recycleye QuantiSort®, with the technology having previously been used at MRFs in Spain.
This work in the UK is part of Tetra Pak’s wider annual commitment of over £34 million per year to expand food and beverage carton collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure globally, in collaboration with stakeholders across the value chain. Of this, £2.4 million from Tetra Pak has been ringfenced specifically for infrastructure to sort food and beverage cartons in the UK.
This final round of Tetra Pak’s 2025 investment in sorting infrastructure marks a milestone in the company’s long-standing work collaborating with UK legislators and local authorities to improve the collection, sorting and recycling of food and beverage cartons.The timing of this investment at a Scottish MRF is significant given the work being undertaken as part of the Circular Economy Act.
This includes Tetra Pak working with the Scottish Government to ensure cartons are included in the updated Code of Practice for local authorities, which will create a consistent approach to recycling and help to reduce consumer confusion regarding what they can recycle.
This mirrors efforts made by Tetra Pak to assist the government in England in the development of Simpler Recycling. This will create a consistent approach to collections, and is expected to substantially increase the collection of food and beverage cartons at kerbside across England, making effective sorting infrastructure for recycling cartons across the UK even more necessary.
