The EU's circular economy package aims to achieve a recycling rate of 60% for metal packaging by 2030. For Austria to achieve these targets, the introduction of joint collection of all lightweight packaging, including metal packaging, from 2025 is relevant. This will change the input composition in lightweight packaging plants, which may have an impact on sorting efficiency. For the separation of non-ferrous metals, the eddy current separator is in use, with which there are various adjustable parameters, that have not yet been systematically investigated in practice for lightweight packaging material. The aim of this work is now to find out whether it is possible to find the optimum settings of the eddy current separator with the aid of metal sensors and to control it based on the sensor data. To this end, preliminary tests were first carried out on the metal sensor and the eddy current separator to determine relevant parameters. In the main pilot-scale tests, the output currents of an eddy current sensor were monitored using a metal sensor. Particular attention was paid to the parameters of conveyor belt speed before the eddy current separator and pole wheel speed of the eddy current separator. It has been shown that the best yield to purity ratio is achieved at a belt speed of up to 2.0 m/s and at a high pole wheel speed of at least 1600 rpm. Comparison of sensor data with manual sorting has shown that both methods give the same result. Thus, it can be concluded that it is possible to find the best settings with the help of sensor data and to control the aggregate based on this.