Governments are increasingly using technology — including AI — to make recycling more efficient. While AI is not without environmental impact, AI-powered solutions can reduce the environmental impact of other sectors. SPSA’s regional landfill was expected to reach capacity in several decades, but the use of AI is expected to extend its capacity through 2095 by diverting waste.
The regional landfill’s capacity limitations came to light when a previously used facility closed — and its expiration date was set for 2060 based on the volume of waste being sent there, SPSA Executive Director Dennis L. Bagley said. SPSA manages solid waste services for more than 1 million residents in Virginia. The organization issued a request for proposals (RFP) in hopes of making the available landfill space last longer, with the goal of reducing material going to the landfill by 50 percent.
SPSA signed a 20-year contract with AMP Robotics Corp.’s affiliate Commonwealth Sortation LLC (together, AMP), announced Nov. 21. The company’s waste management process includes using AI and robotics to separate materials, and a system that turns organics into biochar.
AMP’s Smart Sortation system uses AI technology, cameras and pneumatic jets to identify and sort materials more efficiently and effectively, Tim Stuart, AMP CEO, said.
Through a pilot facility, AMP has already demonstrated a 58 percent reduction in materials going to the landfill, Bagley said: “So we're confident that the system will work — that it will do what they said it would do — and there's liquidated damages in the contract if they don't perform at that level.”
The pilot, Stuart noted, showed SPSA and other municipalities the technology's impact. Third-party consultants can verify that AMP is hitting its targets as specified in the contract, he said. For customers like SPSA, AMP can provide information about the percentage of waste that goes to the landfill versus that going toward recycling, and it can break down the latter by commodity.
AMP’s AI-driven system will provide monthly performance reports, Bagley said. It will offer public transparency as well, with a dashboard live next year on SPSA’s website where residents can see how much is being recycled.
“One of the problems with recycling currently is that there’s a distrust,” he said, indicating members of the public do not feel certain that recycling companies are doing what they say they will do with material.
With the new technology in place, residents will go down from having two trash cans to one, simplifying waste management at an individual level. The diversion rate from recycled material is consistently stagnant around 7 percent, Bagley said — but shifting the responsibility of recycling off residents is expected to more than double the volume of material diverted for recycling.
“And I think that's the biggest difference is we've relied on the residents to do the work, and we're trying to take that off of them,” Stuart said.
In addition to simplifying processes for residents, AI technology now automates much of the trash sorting process that previously required human workers, Stuart said, noting that there will still be a human in the loop to ensure quality control.
The waste management challenges government agencies face are consistent, Stuart said. A key one is that it costs more to recycle, and the industry has largely relied on residents and commercial business to manage that. This partnership aims to shift the approach by using technology and equipment to do the work — and in so doing, increase the recycling rate. Stuart said he hopes this model could be implemented — across the U.S. and the world — to increase landfill diversion rates. This technology solution, he said, is scalable and can work in any community.
This approach may support broader environmental goals for government agencies in other ways, too, by reducing the number of trucks on the road and aiding in the capture and storage of carbon, Stuart said.
“What we’re really hopeful for is that this is only the first step — that we can introduce some other programs that will even go further,” Bagley said, underlining that the goal should be zero waste rather than a waste reduction, and this new contract helps the entity move in that direction.
