US startups help clean the mess after China’s recycling ban
CleanTech features CleanRobotics in their article concerning China’s ban on imports. Read the full article here.
TrashBot in San Francisco
Photo – Kate, Program Director at HAX and Ethan, Program Manager at HAX standing beside CleanRobotic’s Trashbot.
We recently completed installed a TrashBot™ in San Francisco. The TrashBot is efficiently sorting waste from recyclables at the HAX office on Jessie Street.
Founded in 2011 by Cyril Ebersweiler, HAX has become one of the largest early-stage investors, offering hardware startups from all over the world the advantages of the startup ecosystems in Shenzhen and San Francisco. The HAX program is a two-stage program that starts in Shenzhen and finishes in San Francisco. Companies that are admitted to the program spend four to eight months in Shenzhen developing technology, followed by two to three months in San Francisco, working on business development, fundraising, and growth. You can learn more about the program here
CleanRobotics is part of the HAX portfolio and went through the program in 2016. The first working prototypes were built during the Shenzhen program. Charles (CEO) describes his experience with HAX as “A whirl-wind of incredible productivity that is not possible anywhere else in the world. The pace at which you can test hardware and iterate ideas is astounding. The team’s incredible support provides a soft-landing and a running start to make the absolute most of the time you’re there.”
TrashBot received a warm welcome by the team at HAX and has already started generating buzz among the investors visiting the HAX office. We are beyond excited about this installation and the expansion of our footprint. San Francisco is the second city, after Seattle, on the West Coast to get a TrashBot.
If you get a chance, go check out the TrashBot and let us know if you have any comments. We love hearing from people who share our mission and want to help us improve our product.
Recology King Country Pilots CleanRobotics TrashBot
TrashBots in Seattle
Recology has been recycling long before there was even an industry for it. The company’s founders immigrated to San Francisco in the mid-1800s looking for opportunity, eventually finding work doing what no one else wanted to do – picking up other people’s garbage. They sorted through trash to find salvageable material by washing, packaging, and selling bottles, and sorting and separating rags and papers from other refuse materials.
Today, Recology is an integrated resource recovery company, providing materials collection, processing, commodity sales, and outreach and education to customers throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. Recology finds new and innovative ways to process and reuse what was once considered waste, collecting and recovering recyclables to be re-purposed into new products. Recology is 100% employee-owned, with over 3,600 employees throughout its 60 facilities on the west coast.
On average, Recology recovers over 600 million pounds of recyclables each year, implementing recycling programs and building infrastructure at its facilities to reduce landfill-bound materials. With diversion and recovery goals in mind, Recology’s King County operation has partnered with CleanRobotics to pilot the TrashBot technology.
TrashBots have been installed at Recology’s Administrative office, as well as the company’s state-of-the-art Material Recovery Facility and Education Center in the Seattle area.
“Recology hopes to showcase TrashBot technology as an innovative approach to an important problem,” explains Derek Ruckman, Vice President & Group Manager of Recology’s Pacific Northwest operations. “TrashBots provide an opportunity to engage and educate consumers at the primary point of interaction – those precious few seconds spent tossing materials into the bin.”
CleanRobotics Installs TrashBot™ at UNC Charlotte
CleanRobotics, in partnership with RiverRoad Waste Solutions, recently completed the implementation of the revolutionary TrashBot™ at the University of North Carolina (UNC) – Charlotte. This ground-breaking technology has been installed at the University’s EPIC center, a state-of-the-art research facility focused on educating students with energy-related interests.
The TrashBot uses cameras and sensors to scan items as they enter a waste bin. Artificial intelligence is then employed to sort the items into their respective waste or recycling class. CleanRobotics boasts an astonishing 90% sorting accuracy rate, which is projected to further increase as the technology learns and continues to be refined. The solution is enhanced with a SaaS dashboard, which provides granular waste data and enables transparency into a facility’s waste stream.
UNC-Charlotte has been committed to sustainability since 2010, with several goals in progress that are focused on education, research, operational activities, and more. With over 130 identified sustainability goals across seven themes, UNC-Charlotte seeks to understand its impact to the environment and become a regional model for sustainable stewardship.
“The TrashBot installation at UNC-Charlotte is one of many in our rapidly growing network of TrashBots around the globe, which includes high-density facilities like airports, malls, and office buildings,” Charles Yhap, CleanRobotics CEO, said. “Their custodial staff fully embraced the technology during their training. They were especially intrigued with the TrashBot™ sensor technology, which indicates bin fullness, as being a significant time-saver for their activities.”
PPG Installs TrashBot to Further Sustainability Initiatives
Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the PPG Paints Arena recently welcomed TrashBot, the world’s first ever AI trash can. TrashBot uses artificial intelligence to ensure that only trash and not recyclables end up in landfills. This comes on the heels of the PPG Paints Arena and the city of Pittsburgh making strides towards building a more environmentally conscious and sustainable city.
With an interest in further growing their goal of sustainability, the arena has partnered with CleanRobotics to pilot two TrashBots. On your next outing to the Arena if you find yourself confused over trash, check out TrashBot at Level 3 and Level 6. The PPG Paints Arena with a 20,000 guest capacity hosts a wide variety of events throughout the year, ranging from hockey games to concerts to the circus. Guests are serviced by the over 120 concession stands located conveniently throughout the Arena. To encourage fans to ‘Go Green’ the facility has over 200 recycling bins located in and around the building and had partnered with students from Carnegie Mellon University in 2016 to improve their use. Since its construction in 2010, the Arena became and continues to be the only sports facility to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certificate from the US Green Building Council.
The TrashBot uses cameras and sensors to scan items as they enter a waste bin. Artificial intelligence is then employed to sort the items into their respective waste or recycling class. TrashBot currently boasts an astonishing 90% sorting accuracy rate, which is projected to further increase as the technology learns and continues to be refined. The solution is enhanced with a SaaS dashboard, which provides granular waste data and enables transparency into a facility’s waste stream.
Michael Stuever, the Building Operations Manager at the PPG Paints Arena, played a key role in getting the TrashBots in the Arena.
“Pittsburgh is embracing technology faster than ever, we are thankful to have this opportunity to work with PPG Paints Arena and helping them achieve their sustainability goals.” Charles Yhap, CleanRobotics CEO, said.
CleanRobotics Featured in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nora Shelly from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stopped by our office to chat with us about the company, the TrashBots, and the road ahead! Read the full story here.