Aktid Decrypts - When christmas magic gets tangled

Blockages : the leading cause of downtime

The end-of-year holidays are over ! As every year, sorting centers see a flow of unusual waste – including Christmas trees and their nets.

These seasonal contaminants, well known to operators, are responsible for numerous blockages on sorting lines, putting both installations and teams under severe strain.

Today, blockages are the most frequent cause of unplanned downtime in sorting centers. They can account for up to 60% of unexpected stoppages, with a direct impact on operations. At the scale of a single line, repeated interruptions can result in several thousand tons of lost production per year, not to mention the human and material consequences.

Photographie illustrant un bourrage dans un centre de tri de déchets

Why are blockages

so frequent ?

Although sorting centers are designed to prevent blockages under so-called nominal conditions – by sizing machines, conveyors, and hoppers according to specifications and contractual flows – real-life operating conditions are often far more complex.

Increasingly problematic unwanted items

Unwanted objects present in waste streams are a major source of disruption on sorting lines. Christmas tree nets, fishing nets, textiles, VHS tapes, marking tape, ropes, or infusion bags are all causes of wrapping phenomena.
The mechanical properties of these contaminants promote entanglement around equipment shafts – particularly disc screens or ballistic separators – or cause them to catch on sensitive points. Over time, these effects degrade performance, retain material, and eventually lead to blockages.

In addition, obstructions caused by oversized items that should never reach the line – such as sorting bins, large cardboard boxes, or metal components – can become wedged or stuck in equipment. As other waste accumulates around them, they ultimately bring the entire sorting chain to a halt.

Constantly evolving waste streams

Waste streams are not constant. They evolve with seasons and consumption habits : an abundance of plastics in summer, cardboard and gift wrap at Christmas, unexpected peaks…

These variations push processes beyond their nominal operating conditions, creating overloads at critical points. The result : blockages, slowdowns, and a deterioration in sorting quality.

Vue d'ensemble d'un centre de tri de déchets mettant en avant la problématique des bourrages

Heavy consequences for operations

Analysis of data collected by Aktid is unequivocal : blockages are the primary and most penalizing cause of downtime, particularly on packaging materials sorting installations, which experience an average of six stoppages per day.

Operational and financial impact : each stoppage results in immediate production losses, with interrupted flows and teams mobilized without added value. These operating losses regularly exceed €150,000 per year.

Strain and safety : unblocking operations are physically demanding, unpleasant, and sometimes dangerous for operators.

Impact on sorting quality : after a restart, the blockage must be purged before the process can return to nominal operation.

Equipment wear : frequent overloads accelerate wear on installations, leading in the short term to a higher risk of belt tearing and, in the longer term, to more frequent maintenance requirements.

Conventional responses… and their limits

With more than 30 years of experience, Aktid integrates this issue from the very design phase of sorting centers, notably through :

The design and sizing of hoppers based on in-depth expertise in waste streams and operating practices.

The installation of equipment to separate bulky items and spread material, sized to absorb flow variability.

The selection of robust machines and materials capable of withstanding contaminants.

However, these solutions have their limits: they reduce risks without eliminating all causes of blockages. Manual pre-sorting is effective, but it requires significant resources – in personnel, space, and equipment – and relies on physically demanding tasks, making it difficult to justify on a long-term basis.

Anticipating rather than reacting

Faced with these recurring field observations, Aktid’s innovation team focused its work on solutions that allow operators to get ahead of blockages, rather than suffer unexpected shutdowns.

On-site analyses have shown that a conveyor blockage does not form instantaneously. Between the first signs of overload and a complete equipment stoppage, up to seven minutes can elapse – minutes that are often lost, yet decisive. Until now, these weak signals were difficult to exploit in a complex industrial environment.

In this context, the innovation team developed a real-time equipment analysis tool, based on artificial intelligence, to detect early warning signs of blockages: Smart Predict.

Designed as a decision-support tool, it complements existing practices by providing early alerts to operators before a blockage fully forms. Its effectiveness largely relies on its adaptability: from one sorting center to another, equipment criticality and operating constraints vary, making site-specific parameter settings essential.

In the field, its use has led to a 35 – 40% reduction in downtime related to blockages, resulting in a significant availability gain – around one additional point for the installation.

These figures more broadly highlight the growing importance of mastering operational data, which has become a central issue for sorting centers. Better understanding what happens on the line means being able to act earlier, more effectively, and to continuously improve practices – now a crucial competitive advantage.

Visuel présentant le pupitre ABI, produit de la gamme des AKTID Smart Solutions

EXPERT INSIGHTS

“Because sorting center performance is built first and foremost in the field, our experts share their feedback and their perspective on the challenges of waste sorting”

Adrien.S
Innovation Project Manager at Aktid

In the next articles of this series, our experts will continue to share their field experience, shedding light on the concrete challenges faced by sorting centers, always as close as possible to on-the-ground realities.