About 2700 liters of water go into making a single cotton shirt, which the average person would use for about two and a half years. The dilemma is that we wear the shirt for just a few years, and it ends up in a landfill. According to an EPA report, Americans generate about 292.4 million tons of trash every year, about 325 is recycled or composted, and 20% of what goes into the recycling bins is actually recycled. The amount of trash is growing year by year alongside its environmental and economic impacts.
In the context of waste management, waste diversion is the process of diverting and redirecting waste from landfills. We can redirect waste from landfills via recycling or reusing. Recycling is the process of using used material to make new products and reusing is the act of utilizing the full potential of a product. The goal of waste diversion is to ensure that products get to live out their life span and less waste goes into the landfills.
In this article, we will discuss waste diversion, why it’s important, and how to measure it. We will also explore how you can divert waste from landfills by recycling, reusing, and reducing.
“The prevention and reduction of generated waste through source reduction, recycling, reuse and composting. Waste diversion generates a host of environmental, financial and social benefits, including conserving energy, reducing disposal costs, and reducing the burden on landfills and other waste disposal methods.”
“Designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.”
Waste diversion and zero waste are similar concepts. Zero waste is a goal that cannot be achieved overnight. Companies like Microsoft are committing to achieve zero waste by 2030. Even universities are taking the initiative as Cal State LA commits to a sustainability plan with goals like achieving 90% waste diversion by 2026.
Why is Waste Diversion Important?
There are two important benefits of waste diversion:
Less garbage goes into landfills, which has significant environmental impacts.
Recycling and repurposing products reduce the need to extract new material and make new products.
How to Measure Waste Diversion Rate?
Measuring your waste diversion rate is a simple two-step process. In the first step, you conduct a waste audit and use the obtained data to calculate the waste diversion rate.
Step 1: Conduct a Waste Audit
The first step in measuring waste diversion is conducting a waste audit – a method of analyzing an organization’s regular waste stream. It helps you gather data about what’s currently being thrown away and how you can optimize the process via waste management strategies.
You can conduct a waste audit in four ways:
Use a recycling smart bin such as TrashBot for an on-demand waste audit
Conduct an internal waste audit with your team
Ask your waste hauler to conduct the waste audit
Outsource the waste audit to a third-party audit company
Here’s what a general trash stream looks like in a waste audit:
36% organics
14% glass, metals, and plastic
10% paper
1% cardboard
< 1% of electronic waste
Step 2: Calculate the Waste Diversion Rate
Once you have the data from the waste audit including the total weight of recycling, compost, and garbage, the next step is to put the values in the following formula:
Waste Diversion Rate = Weight of Recycling/(Weight of Recycling + Weight of Garbage) x100
Step 3: Set Diversion Rate Target for Your Organization
After calculating the current waste diversion rate, you can set up a target waste diversion rate for your organization. It’s important to ensure that the program is communicated across your organization and that the custodial staff is also on board. With your team on board, you can evolve and improve to eventually meet the ultimate zero waste goals.
How to Divert Waste using the 3Rs of Recycling
We can divert waste using the 3Rs of recycling:
Reducing waste involves choosing everyday products with care to minimize waste. For example, using silverware instead of plastic utensils or trading fast fashion for natural and durable.
Reusing means utilizing one product in many different ways. For example, turning an old tire into a swing for kids or using old bottles for decoration and growing plants.
Recycling is the act of separating items such as paper, plastic, and metal from your regular garbage so that they can be processed into new products.
Automate Waste Diversion with TrashBot
Measuring waste diversion manually takes a long time. You have to start by creating a team to conduct a waste audit, then using the data to calculate your waste diversion rates. Each process requires a long time and considerable resources. The solution to this is recycling technology such as TrashBot.
TrashBot is a smart recycling bin that uses AI to sort and categorize trash and put it into the respective bins via robotic automation. The TrashBot is equipped with an analytics dashboard where users can monitor the bin’s capacity, diversion rates, and trends, and use the data to make strategic decisions. The best part of the smart recycling bin is that it provides real-time data that considerably reduces the cost, time, and resources.
Every year, on April 22, billions of people celebrate Earth Day all over the world. Only about half a century ago, the world was largely unaware of how environmental issues such as pollution and deforestation are affecting the planet.
The very first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. The original idea was to educate university and college students about environmental issues and to get them on the national policy agenda, which was largely successful. As climate change becomes an existential threat to life on earth, it comes down to humans to resolve the issue. While the problem may not be old, we can’t delay it any further. Only by recycling, reusing, and reducing can we achieve zero waste and battle the environmental crisis.
In this article, we will discuss the history and importance of Earth Day along with how to get started on your zero waste journey.
The History and Importance of Earth Day
In 1969, an oil slick caught fire on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. The image of “The River Caught Fire” motivated people to change and protect the environment. In 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin organized a National demonstration to raise awareness about environmental issues.
The efforts of Senator Nelson and the others did not go in vain. Within one year of the first Earth day, about 25% of Americans believed that protecting the environment is important and many environmental policies were passed including:
The Clean Air Act
The Water Quality Improvement Act
The Endangered Species Act
The Toxic Substances Control Act
The Surface Mining Control And Reclamation Act
Over the coming years, the day was celebrated as Earth Day making Senator Nelson an icon for the environmental movement.
The Problem: Climate Change and Pollution
Did you know, water covers about 70 percent of the earth, but less than one percent is actually accessible to us? According to WHO, ambient air pollution accounts for nearly 4.2 million deaths per year. There are about 2000 open landfills in the United States, and a whopping 91 percent of the plastic is never recycled.
If we talk numbers, then there are thousands of reports available that can tell you that climate change is real. We hear about animal species going extinct, but climate change poses new problems to the survival of humans as well as animals. Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, heatwaves, and droughts are just a few of the many problems it causes.
Scientists believe that temperatures around the globe will continue to rise largely due to the emission of greenhouse gases produced by human activity. The solution to these problems is zero waste. Let’s take a look at what zero waste is and how it can help the planet.
The Solution: A Zero Waste Future
To do something about climate and changing the very planet we live on, a zero-waste lifestyle is critical. Zero waste is a set of principles that are focused on waste prevention. We are encouraged to redesign our lifestyles where all products are reused.
“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.”
– Barack Obama
Zero waste is good for the environment, economy, and the community we live in. Recycling, reusing and reducing creates about 10x more jobs than average disposal. Making an aluminum can from recycled material takes 20x less energy than raw materials. We waste more than $31 billion worth of food every year, what if it was rather distributed among shelters, food banks, etc.
Here are some of the top benefits of zero waste:
Reduce the impact of climate change
Conserves energy and minimizes pollution
Supports the local circular economy
Promotes social equality and builds community
How Clean Robotics Can Help You Work Towards a Zero Waste Future
“There’s no magic bullet for the challenge of climate change. It will take a creative mix of innovative solutions from across disciplines to drive the impact required. The urgent need for this decentralized, but collective action is historic.” – Charles Yhap, CEO, CleanRobotics
Zero waste is the future, but how will we get there when people are still struggling with what and what not to recycle. Even 20 to 25 percent of the items submitted for recycling are non-recyclable trash. Recycling rules are often confusing and vary from place to place.
More and more companies are moving towards a zero-waste future including the big players like Microsoft and Google. Designed mainly for high-traffic facilities, TrashBot can help your company reach its zero waste goals. On top of trash sorting, TrashBot also offers features like fullness indication, waste data via an online dashboard, real-time audits, and a monitor for data-driven education. Since it relies on AI, it’s about three times more accurate than humans.
So, this Earth Day, start your own zero waste journey and make a difference!
Ever-increasing garbage and landfills are a grave problem for the global community. According to UNEP 11.2 billion tonnes of solid waste is collected worldwide and decay of the organic proportion of solid waste. So the ultimate solution to this problem is recycling which is the key to a sustainable, better, and green environment for present and upcoming generations.
Businesses worldwide are concerned about the growing pollution and are looking for viable solutions. Many international facilities like the San Diego International Airport and The Cura Co. are implementing Zero Waste initiatives. Therefore, recycling education must be delivered to all individuals from the executive level to front-line workers in all organizations, especially in hospitals, airports, and large facilities.
The decentralization of the sustainability team would make the organization an excellent recycling hub. We have divided this article into two sections: forming the sustainability team enriched with recycling education and tricks for an enforceable recycling plan. This article can be used by any hospital, airport, or large facility shifting towards zero-waste goals.
Formation of the Sustainability Team enriched with Recycling Education
All the roles and responsibilities of the sustainability team should be crystal clear. The sustainability team should be aware of recycling education. They should be ready to adopt a recycling attitude because these two factors will enable them to be a highly-functioning sustainability team.
Upper Management Committee
The sustainability team should reflect on recycling habits from top to bottom. However, the upper and senior-level management should be ready to spread awareness about and comply with recycling education. The upper management committee is responsible for decision-making for finances. This committee is also known as the sustainability leadership council (SLC).
Green Team/ Ecology Committee
The green team is the collection of sub-committees of the directors of different departments who want to adopt recycling solutions for their organizations. Each sub-committee is preliminarily assigned a particular task such as purchasing, saving energy, water, etc. The green team is also known as the recycling task force because this committee is also responsible for accomplishing day-to-day recycling tasks. Recycling solutions for hospitals, airports, and other large facilities are also provided by the green teams of the respective organizations.
Recycling Team Manager
The core connecting and managing person of an organization’s ecology committee is the recycling team manager. The recycling team manager is the main person of the sustainability team with in-depth recycling education. They have many duties and responsibilities to perform, like communication between the sub-committees, reporting to the upper management committee, and overseeing the activities of the recycling plant.
Sustainable departmental coordinators
The coordinators are responsible for communication within the department and have the limited privilege to carry out specific responsibilities. The sustainable departmental coordinators ensure that all of the must-dos are appropriately done within the department, and no individual’s working is against the recycling education and plan.
Value Analysis Committee (VACs)
Value Analysis Committees are the most critical groups for recycling solutions for airports, hospitals, and large facilities. This committee is mainly present in organizations with supply chains and creates a plan for solving various performance-related problems such as advanced technology, cost, operation, etc. The value analysis committee points out the products and services which can help the organization to become environmentally friendly. Moreover, the value analysis committee seeks eco-friendly solutions and adopts sustainable principles while purchasing within the organization.
Tips for an Enforceable Recycling Plan
A recycling plan has to be executable and enforceable within the organizations. A perfectly workable plan should be catered to carefully as per the recycling education and principles. We have listed down tricks presented by the recycling experts to get started.
Begin with tiny steps
The first and foremost step is defining goals that seem small but can bring change in the long run. Additionally, a good initiative is starting with small sustainability with a high IQ in recycling education.
Analyze the progress regularly
To be on the green track, the recycling team manager should call for regular meetings to analyze the progress. These meetings can be called quarterly or bi-yearly. In most cases, quarterly meetings work best. Moreover, year-end or year-beginning meetings can be great opportunities to set green goals according to market trends.
Communicate comprehensively
Another rule of thumb followed by the e-commerce giants and other companies is to “spread the word” through effective measures such as social media, newsletters, etc. The sustainability team should set monthly eco-goals at the year-end or year-beginning meetings, and newsletters should be circulated to spread your views in your community.
Technologize the recycling plan
Technology makes everything fun and easy. Many products are available in the market that can help achieve the green goals. Most of the time, people are unaware of the difference between recyclables and landfills. According to waste360, 20% of Americans place some trash in the recycling bin even if they are unsure of its recyclability. In this case, TrashBot can be a great solution, an advanced blend of computer vision, robotics, and artificial intelligence for separating recyclables from landfills.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 11 billion tons of waste are produced worldwide. About 91% of plastic is not recycled, and only 20% of what goes into our recycling bins ends up being recycled. Poor waste management leads to air and water pollution, soil contamination, and the mass effect of climate change.
With this in mind, major corporations such as Google, and Uniliver are committing to a zero-waste goal. Microsoft announced that they have committed to achieving zero waste goals by 2030. Despite their best intentions, humans are still confused about how and what to recycle.
In this article, we will explore what a waste audit is and why your organization should conduct one, as well as the technology that can make waste management a more efficient system.
Waste Audit: What it is and How it Works
A waste audit is a method of analyzing a facility’s regular waste stream. It can help organizations reduce waste, determine whether they have adequate waste management strategies, and identify ways to improve the process.
In August 2021, the most extensive study on commercial building waste across the United States. They conducted waste audits at more than 100 buildings and analyzed 170,000 pounds of waste during the study. The findings showed that commercial buildings generally throw away 62% of the recyclable trash, and only 38% are residuals that cannot be recycled or composted.
As per the waste audit, here’s what a general trash stream looks like:
36% organics
14% glass, metals, and plastic
10% paper
1% cardboard
Less than 1% of electronic waste
Conducting a Waste Audit: Step-by-Step
Conducting a waste audit is usually a five-step process. Each step requires substantial planning, resources, and time. The five steps to conduct a waste audit are:
Assembling a team and setting a date
Determining waste categories
Gathering tools required for the audit
Sorting through the trash
Analyzing the final results
The Problems with Traditional Waste Audit
A waste audit allows organizations to find value in what they are about to throw away. There are multiple benefits to a waste audit, but here are the top four ways a waste audit can help your organization:
When it comes to your waste trail, no one pays attention to what they throw away. Even though waste data does not seem attractive, it holds the key to impact change. Can you remember the last thing you threw in the trash?
Unfortunately, traditional waste audit data is general and high-level, and it often lacks critical details that can help your organization bring about change. That is why it’s often unable to help organizations devise their procurement or purchasing strategies.
An automated solution to waste audits: Autonomous systems such as TrashBot are accurate data sources for waste audits, helping to optimize the waste management process while improving over time through machine learning. We are talking about a smart recycling bin that uses artificial intelligence and the cloud, becoming smarter as time passes. With efficient waste audit data and insights, this solution will help you save money and efficiently manage waste throughout your organization.
AI and Robotics for Waste Management Solutions
When it comes to waste management, you might think that a human being can make better decisions. However, a survey revealed that 62% of respondents agreed that a lack of recycling education is causing them to recycle incorrectly. In addition, other factors such as the evolving recycling laws per region make it hard for the user to keep up with what is recyclable or compostable in which part of the world.
Recycling Smart Bins are the solution for organizations that want to pursue a zero-waste goal but are facing obstacles along the way.
CleanRobotics developed an autonomous system that leverages AI, computer vision, and robotics to detect and separate recyclables from landfill units. Here is how TrashBot can revolutionize waste management:
TrashBot is designed to make an environmental impact by separating waste items at the time of disposal. It’s an excellent solution for high-traffic areas where people dispose of things without a second thought.
It offers organizations an alternative way to conduct lengthy, labor-intensive, and costly waste audits. They can instantly get on-demand, exportable waste audits and use the data for decision insights.
To make the job easier for custodial operations, TrashBot updates the fullness status in real-time.
TrashBot also comes equipped with a built-in screen and content management system. This system allows you to educate the public about recycling as well as communicate your organization’s sustainability goals.
Not only is the Trashbot 3x more accurate than humans, but it also keeps improving over time. The recycling AI captures high-quality data, and the users can get on-demand, exportable waste audits at their disposal.
Did you know that in the U.S. it is estimated that up to 25% of submitted items are unrecyclable? The inefficient recycling solutions to handle the world’s waste have led to air, water, and soil pollution, affecting our world’s sustainable growth. In addition, recent studies show that only 9% of plastic in the world actually gets recycled, these and more challenges make it harder for companies trying to shift towards a Zero Waste vision.
Only until smart tools such as smart recycling bins become an easy-access solution we will be able to replace the traditional ways of treating old and new waste problems, achieving truly sustainable and smart waste management.
Challenges with Traditional Recycling Bins
The vague information about recycling bins’ fullness indicates unproductive use of human resources, immoderate fuel consumption, time-wasting, and excessive use of resources, such as trash bags and cleaning chemicals. In addition, the absence of sensors made it challenging to identify any unusual incident (like fire or displacement). Consequently, few companies have started to test AI robotics to detect recyclable items.
Some of the most popular challenges faced with traditional trash bins are the following:
Need for route optimization
Detection of bin saturation
Controlling the bin overflows
Information about any unusual incident
Recyclables contamination
User diversion accuracy
Convention centers, buildings, stadiums, and transportation facilities are deploying new innovative solutions, such as CleanRobotics TrashBot™, a smart bin that captures high-quality waste data and informs staff when it gets full. TrashBot features an AI system that is three times more accurate at the point of disposal than human beings and conventional methods whose accuracy stands at 30%.
The global challenge to increase recycling rates is still hard to tackle with users’ uncertainty when deciding which items can be recycled and which cannot. Without proper user education, we can’t grow recycling rates and understand which type of recycling system is needed for a sustainable future. AI technology has been a breakthrough implementation in the recycling process, diverting recyclable items (aluminum, plastic, paper, glass, and more) from landfills.
What is a Smart Recycling Bin?
Smart waste management is the process of measuring, reducing, collecting, separating, and recycling trash using sensors and resilient devices to achieve efficiency, transparency, and sustainability.
A smart bin can leverage the use of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), computer vision, robotics, RFID tags, Near Field Communications, sensors, Wireless Sensor Networks, compactors, actuators, Intelligent Monitoring Systems, and dashboards. The smart bin’s system works with artificial intelligence to divert trash with efficiency, cost-effectiveness, minimum labor-power, and least traffic congestion.
Smart bin TrashBot™ is integrated with a real-time monitoring dashboard that enables enterprises to gain insights into the overall recycling materials. The monitoring indicators allow the custodians to optimize their workflows and spend limited time while checking bins. Units can also perform waste audits, determine diversion rates, calculate potential cost savings through a smart bin analytics platform. Hence, users can maximize the recycling potential of materials through smart bins.
A smart bin is an amalgam of sensors, processors, and communication modules. The machine learning ability of smart trash bins works with real-time data collection, which is then transferred to the cloud platform through WiFi. The software on the cloud then processes the data and transmits it to the user interface for final reaction. It works as an IoT device to pick out and compress recyclable items spontaneously.
Smart bins make the complete waste management process convenient and efficient by combining the power of AI systems, robotics, and data processing. With AI and ML technology, smart bins can detect separate recyclables from landfills with 90% accuracy. It is also a more cost-effective (and smart) waste management approach than using expensive sensor instruments and human resources.
How do Smart Bins Work?
The sensor inside of the smart bin immediately recognizes when an item has been deposited. Through AI and Machine Learning, the recycling robot or smart bin will divert the items into their corresponding bin inside, assigning any contaminated items into the landfill bin.
The smart bin will also monitor the internal capacity and send a notification (such as SMS or email) for the custodial team’s action. Smart bin connectivity is possible thanks to a system of integrated devices, software, and a user interface, from collection to disposal of waste material.
Smart Recycling Bin Features
AI-Powered Sorting: Consists of a sensor for object detection, a camera sensor for image recognition, and robotic technology for segregating recyclables from landfills. When an object enters a smart bin, the camera captures the object image for identification. The image is then identified and sorted against the entries in the database, whether it’s can, plastic, glass, or paper, and delivered in the respective section of the bin through robot automation.
Built-in Display: The integrated screen enables users to add personalized content intermittently with educational content. Some facilities can also leverage the built-in display fot advertising material.
Analytics Dashboard: An intuitive and user-friendly dashboard where users can monitor the bin’s capacity, track diversion rates, notice trends and make strategic decisions.
Mobility: It is embedded with swivel lock wheels, helping users move on any hard surface, including a firm carpet.
Sleek Design: Advanced recycling companies like CleanRobotics are deploying modern yet elegant design that not only provides high durability but comprises heavy-gauge stainless steel to prevent rust and corrosion, making them suitable for all environments.
TrashBot : A Complete Recycling Solution
With an uncontrollable amount of waste generated regularly, the job of separating the recyclable items from landfills is no more in the hands of human labor. An automated recycling solution, TrashBot, which replicates human actions, is needed.
TrashBot provides a complete solution enclosing all the mandatory features of a smart recycling bin. TrashBot is one of the top smart robot bins that generates waste diversion data of recyclable items from landfills. The critical system is constructed on a solid foundation of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, computer vision, and robotics.
The sorting immediately begins as the item is discarded into the smart bin. Trashbot’s system leverages the use of robotics, computer vision, and AI to detect and separate recyclables from landfill items. Waste diversion is 3x more accurate than human beings, generating high-quality data and notifying the staff when it’s getting full. Cloud connectivity allows individual units to learn from the global TrashBot fleet, becoming more intelligent over time. It also has a large display for user education, corporate communications, and advertising.
TrashBot Adds Value Through AI and Reporting
Large Capacity: The spacious design can accommodate enough garbage from crowded places like malls, transportation facilities and stadiums.
Swift Working: TrashBot ensures the bright future of recycling, processing and diverting trash in seconds. Thus, TrashBot makes sorting for recycling much faster and more efficient than the manual work done by humans.
Connectivity: The tasks done after the element sorting are also accomplished effectively with the help of sensors, and wireless connection to the Cloud platform. The notification that the bin is ready to be emptied can be updated on the Cloud and send a notification to the right person or team.
Proper recycling can only be accomplished with the appropriate discard of the trash. As humans fail in executing this duty, smart, automated bins like TrashBot can take over this job with 90% accuracy, efficiency, and acceleration.
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