INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The world has a trash problem
The amount of stuff we throw away is expected to nearly double, to 3.8 billion metric tons, by 2050
recycling, which has its own problems
People routinely try to recycle dirty yogurt cups or toss plastic in the aluminum bin
It all makes recycling more expensive because, ultimately, someone has to manually pick out the unwanted stuff.In response, several
companies have been building automated systems to sort recyclables, including Glacier, a 6-year-old company that has developed inexpensive
Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix, and now Seattle.As Glacier looks to expand its robot fleet to more municipalities, it
recently raised a $16 million Series A, the company exclusively told A Technology NewsRoom
The round was led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund with participation from AlleyCorp, Alumni Ventures, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Cox
Exponential, Elysium, New Enterprise Associates, One Small Planet, Overlap Holdings, Overture, VSC Ventures, and Working Capital
Governments want more waste to be recycled, but MRFs are having a hard time finding enough people to staff the sorting line.Industry-wide,
turnover is extremely high
A typical MRF will have to hire five times per year for a single sorting position
The job is so undesirable that one MRF operator told Hu-Thrams that, even though his wages were higher, he was concerned about losing
or on a lease-to-own model
It encourages MRFs to make repairs they feel comfortable with, supplying them with training and spare parts
For those that would rather not, the startup offers maintenance packages.Glacier is also offering a data product, in which MRFs and other
stakeholders like consumer products companies and government agencies can pay for access to insights about the waste stream
actually getting recycled.With enough robots, recycling rates should improve, if only because robots are faster and better at distinguishing
