Trimetal’s adoption of Tomra Finder Color revolutionises metal recovery in Europe

Founded in 2019 in Saint-Étienne, France, Trimetal has quickly established itself as a key player in the recovery and valorisation of special metals from complex waste streams such as refuse derived fuel, glass, wood, incineration residues, mattress springs, and pulper ropes. The company’s focus on integrating cutting-edge sorting technologies has underpinned its rapid growth, culminating in approximately €4 million in revenue in 2024 with ambitions to double this figure in 2025.

Central to Trimetal’s expansion strategy is pushing sorting capabilities to their full potential, particularly through the adoption of Tomra Recycling’s latest innovation, the Finder Color, a next-generation, high-precision color sorting system designed to enhance metal recovery efficiency and purity levels. Installed in 2025, Finder Color has become the cornerstone of Trimetal’s optical sorting operations, complementing Tomra’s Finder unit that was introduced in 2021. The integration of these advanced sorting technologies enables the company to handle challenging material streams with consistent, high-quality output.

The challenge Trimetal faced was to achieve a stainless steel fraction exceeding 98% purity without relying on manual sorting. Stainless steel is notoriously difficult to clean due to contamination by various metals. According to insights from Tomra, the Finder Color system combines an ultra-precise RGB camera with artificial intelligence to detect, separate, and sort individual particles based on colour, size, and shape, even when particles overlap or share the colour of the conveyor belt. This capability allows Trimetal to reliably process mixed metals and maintain competitiveness by producing homogeneous and clean outputs without manual intervention.

Beyond stainless steel, Trimetal has strategically targeted the recovery of critical and strategic metals such as copper, brass, and precious metals, which are vital to European industry. This move addresses concerns over metal scarcity driven by large-scale exports and seeks to ensure full traceability throughout the recycling process. The flexibility of Finder Color is instrumental here, as it supports rapid switching between material fractions and sorting tasks without requiring reconfiguration, a feature that aligns with Trimetal’s identity of processing complex materials efficiently.

Supporting equipment such as shredders, screens, magnetic separators, and eddy current separators create ideal input conditions, maximising the effectiveness of the optical sorting line. Additionally, an electromagnetic sensor integrated into the Tomra system enhances the separation process by reducing plastic contamination and improving the precision of sorting cables and stainless steel.

Industry data indicates that Finder Color can handle grain sizes from 6mm to 120mm and achieve throughput rates of up to 20 tons per hour, particularly when processing Zorba scrap metal (non-ferrous mixed metal scrap). This performance capability enables Trimetal to increase throughput volumes without expanding headcount or incoming tonnage, facilitating an upmarket shift towards higher-value non-ferrous metal streams such as copper alloys, brass, and printed circuit boards.

The results speak for themselves: Trimetal has reached its target purity levels, enhanced throughput capacity, significantly reduced manual sorting labor, and unlocked new commercial opportunities. These advances not only secure a stable supply of critical metals within Europe but also position Trimetal to respond swiftly to evolving market demands.

Tomra Recycling describes Finder Color as a compact, easy-to-maintain system that seamlessly integrates with its IoT platform, TOMRA Insight, enabling data-driven operations and ongoing optimisation of sorting efficiency. This aligns with the broader industry trend towards automation, digitalisation, and AI-enabled resource recovery processes.

Trimetal’s experience with Finder Color underscores the rising significance of advanced sorting technologies in industrial decarbonisation and circular economy efforts. By enabling higher metals recovery rates from complex waste streams, companies like Trimetal contribute to reducing reliance on virgin material extraction and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

Looking forward, the company aims to intensify sorting of high-value non-ferrous metals and electronic scrap components, solidifying its role as a European leader in metal recycling innovation. This case exemplifies how investment in precision sorting technology can drive operational excellence, sustainability, and market agility in the industrial decarbonisation landscape.