The future of recycling might be changing. But, why?
What’s happening:
- San Francisco, California robotics startup Glacier has announced they’ve raised $7.7M in new funding, led by New Enterprise Associates and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund
The big idea:
- Glacier has built an artificial Intelligence powered robot that is capable of rapidly sorting materials for recycling, as well as preventing plastics and metals from ending up in landfills
- By leveraging artificial intelligence, Glacier’s robotics can identify different items from glass bottles, to aluminium cans, to being able to distinguish between grocery bags and trash bags
- Glacier’s robotics are also capable of handling materials that could be potentially hazardous
By the numbers:
- Glacier’s robotics can identify and accurately sort more than 30 different types of materials
- Approximately 50% of materials that are actually recyclable end up in landfills in the United States
Going deeper:
- While recycling helps lower pollution and greenhouse gases, it also has enormous potential to significantly lower emissions from new manufacturing by supplying recycled feedstock
- As part of their investment, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will launch a pilot project with Glacier to attempt to find new materials that can be recycled and repurposed for their own packaging
