There is a problem with garbage around the world. The amount of what we throw away is expected to almost double to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050. Reducing what we use will go a long way in addressing the problem, but let’s face it.
It leaves recycling behind, and it has its own problems. People routinely try to recycle dirty yogurt cups or throw plastic into aluminum bins. Ultimately, recycling becomes more expensive as someone will have to manually choose what is unnecessary.
In response, several companies are building automated systems to sort recyclability, including Glacier, a six-year-old company that developed cheap robotic arms controlled by computer vision to identify more than 30 different materials.
The startup deploys robots in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix and now Seattle.
The company told TechCrunch exclusively that it has recently raised a $16 million Series A as Glacier is looking to expand its robotics fleet to more municipalities.
The round was led by the Ecosystem Integrity Fund, with participation from Alleycorp, Alumni Ventures, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Cox Exponential, Elysium, New Enterprise Associates, One Small Planet, Overlap Hold, VSC Ventures and the Working Capital Fund.
Graceier co-founder and CEO Rebecca Who Slams told TechCrunch that materials recovery facilities, or sorting facilities, are being squeezed at both ends. The government wants to recycle more waste, but MRF is struggling to find enough people to staff them on the sort line.
The industry as a whole has seen a very high sales. A typical MRF must be hired five times a year for a single selection position. The job is so undesirable, one MRF operator told Hu-Thrams that he was worried about losing workers to a new warehouse opening nearby, despite his wages being higher.
“Do you want to stand on a conveyor belt and sort people’s trash, or lift boxes in an air-conditioned warehouse?” Hu-Thrams said. “That kind of thing underscores the dilemma that many customers face.”
Glacier buys the robot entirely to its customers, or offers it from leases to the owner model. MRFS encourages them to perform repairs and provide training and spare parts that will make them feel comfortable. For those who are not, startups offer maintenance packages.
Glacier also offers data products. This product can be paid by other stakeholders such as MRFS and consumer product companies and government agencies for access to insights into waste streams. For MRF, that may mean identifying where on the line you are losing valuable aluminum cans to landfills. For businesses or regulators, this may mean auditing the waste flow to determine whether packaging designed to be recycled is in fact recycled.
Using enough robots should improve recycling rates just because robots are faster and better at distinguishing recyclability from garbage.
“Every time you send people to an AI system audit, people get even worse,” said Areb Malik, Glacier CTO and second co-founder. “AI has become really powerful and can distinguish it beyond what people can even notice.”