Cities around the world separate recyclable waste from other trash at material recovery facilities, but operators often have little real-time insight as to what’s passing through their plants.
Now, a U.K.-based startup called Greyparrot is using artificial intelligence and computer vision to quickly determine what’s passing along each conveyor belt in such a facility. That lets plant operators verify they’re accurately sorting metal, plastics, and other types of recyclables and quickly adjust equipment and procedures as needed. It can also help detect hazardous waste and materials like batteries that can cause fires or other issues before they become a problem—and even integrate with robotic sorting tools to help guide them to the right targets.
In 2023, Greyparrot’s technology scanned more than 25 billion waste objects, helping to divert millions of tons of waste away from landfills and incinerators, the company says.
“Whatever a human consumes and throws in the bins, we are able to recognize it,” says Greyparrot cofounder Ambarish Mitra.
The company was founded in 2019, and spent roughly the first two years working with plant operators to hone its machine learning models to recognize different types of waste. Now, it can identify at least 89 different categories of materials, estimate item mass and financial value, and even detect the brands of discarded packaging. Its software can deliver cumulative analytics data letting plant managers know how operations are going and send real-time alerts if it detects a change in what sort of material is coming into a facility or any quality control issues along the line.
And on Tuesday, Greyparrot unveiled the latest version of its Greyparrot Analyzer hardware units, now themselves built with more recyclable materials, a new LED lighting system, and a GPU that uses about 50 watts less power than the previous model. The company also formally announced financial backing from Build Collective, the investment firm led by Tony Fadell—the legendary designer and engineer known as “the father of the iPod” and a longtime advocate of taking on waste issues. Build Collective has invested roughly $900,000 in Greyparrot since its inception.
Improving the function of material recovery facilities (MRFs) can help address the fact that plenty of waste still isn’t being recycled, Fadell says, and the facilities are incentivized to install Greyparrot’s technology since they can make more money by finding recyclables with higher accuracy.
“This is something that can help the planet,” he says. “And MRFs are installing it because it is good for them.”
Consumer product designers like Fadell also inspired Greyparrot in making its Analyzer units look elegant, which Mitra says helps convey the company focus on quality and help catch the eye of potential buyers used to drab industrial aesthetics.
“The industry is very used to dull-looking, rusty-looking equipment,” he says. “So we wanted to take inspiration from companies like Apple and make something very sleek and aesthetically pleasing.”
The company recently announced a deal with Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, a large vendor to material recovery facilities in North America, to install Greyparrot systems in more plants across the U.S. Earlier this year, Greyparrot also unveiled a deal with Bollegraaf, a major European builder of recycling plants, where Greyparrot acquired Bollegraaf’s own computer vision business and received an investment from Bollegraaf as the two companies work together to install the technology in thousands of facilities.
“People are learning how to use statistics and AI to make better decisions in industries where there was almost zero digitization before us,” Mitra says. “That’s a huge step change for this industry.”
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