Members of Maldon District Council (MDC) and a climate-conscious local student met Max this week - a robot that is revolutionising recycling in the district.

Councillor Carlie Mayes, who is MDC's vice chairman, and Councillor Jeanette Stilts, MDC's climate emergency champion, organised a visit to local waste and recycling centre Green Recycling for pupil Lillyann, who is passionate about the environment.

They arranged the visit to the centre, at Bates Rd Quayside Industrial Park, after Lillyann volunteered to pick litter after Fantastia Weekend at Promenade Park at the end of July.

The councillors and eight-year-old Lillyann were given a guided tour of the facility by Jamie Smith, the general manager, beforing meeting Max.

"Max-AI" is the first of its kind in Britain - an autonomous robot which further automates the company's waste recovery capabilities.

Rob Smith, owner and managing director, said: "This investment is very exciting and the technology will revolutionise our MRF [Materials Recovery Facility] operations and substantially increase recovery of recyclables throughout our plant."

Jamie added: "We recover everything that comes into this facility. Nothing goes to the landfill."

Lillyann was "horrified" that waste is put into the ground, and was very pleased to see that Green Recycling does not.

She said: "We must recycle everything - or better still, not produce it in the first place."

The group learned how Max-AI technology identifies recyclables and other items for recovery through deep learning technology, which employs multi-layered neural networks and a visual system to identify items like a human would and then sort them.

During the visit, Jamie explained their current obstacle that Max has not been able to address - the recovery of wood from the waste conveyor.

Currently, large pieces of wood are removed at the beginning of the process using a large picking crane, but, as it passes through the MRF, it has to be picked out by hand in order to recover it.

Lillyann was quick to say: "I will come up with something to do that."

No doubt she might.

Lillyann, and her mum Marya, left the centre with a bag of gifts and a new title as MDC's first "Climate Friend".