Getting Your Facility a Sustainability Certification – Can TrashBot help?
Discover more about the intersection of Sustainability Certifications and TrashBot’s smart waste management system
The Path to Getting Certified: The Role of Facilities for a Greener Tomorrow
Waste management is a key component of the sustainable building lifecycle. This includes not only construction waste but the building’s collective management of resources and efforts toward material recovery.
A host of certifications and reporting standards exist to bring a sustainability ethos into the built environment. Certification programs like LEED, WELL, and others advance green building and sustainable community development practices.
Achieving circularity and reciprocity between companies and social systems means transforming the way built environments are designed, constructed, and operated.
Introducing TrashBot’s Smart Waste Management System
CleanRobotics is reinventing the way facilities recover recyclables and manage their waste through the TrashBot smart bins, bridging the gap between the waste-generating public and the organization’s sustainability goals through AI sorting and data tracking.
TrashBot is a smart recycling bin that sorts at the point of disposal with 96% accuracy while also educating every user that interacts with it. The data generated allows the assessment of sustainability in terms of waste management, recovered circular materials, and carbon impact reduction.
Top Sustainability Certifications for Facilities (and how TrashBot can help)
TRUE Certification
TRUE is a whole systems approach aimed at changing how materials flow through society, resulting in no waste. TRUE encourages
✓ Sustainable resource and materials management
✓ Waste reduction practices
✓ Supporting public health & ecosystems
TrashBot provides
✓ Documentation of materials reduced by commodity
✓ Insights on current supply chain and opportunities for more sustainable alternatives
✓ A visible interactive platform that drives engagement and behavior change
CDP Climate Change Survey Certification
A CDP score provides a snapshot of a company’s disclosure and environmental performance. By disclosing over consecutive years, they can understand the trajectory of their environmental journey. Scores are recorded on various activities, including
✓ Emissions reduction
✓ Waste management
TrashBot helps organizations:
✓ Reduce their waste to landfill, resulting in more abated carbon
Integrated Reporting (IR)
Integrated Reporting (IR) Fundamentals of Integrated Reporting Certificate
Integrated Reporting (IR) is a new approach to corporate reporting that helps organizations
✓ Tell a better story to investors and others about how they create value IR is about
✓ Sharing information on the organization’s strategy, business model, and performance
With TrashBot’s data, companies can:
✓ Measure and report their impact from a waste diversion perspective
✓ Educate the public for a long-term impact
International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)
The ISSB has set out key objectives, including developing standards for a global baseline of sustainability disclosures and enabling companies to:
✓ Provide comprehensive sustainability information to global markets
With TrashBot in place:
✓ Companies can recover more circular materials with 96% accuracy and use the data to show their sustainability journey
ISO 14001 Environmental Management
ISO 14001 maps out a framework for an environmental management system and certification. Consistent with the organization’s environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include:
✓ Enhancement of environmental performance
✓ Fulfilment of compliance obligations
✓ Achievement of environmental objectives
With TrashBot:
✓ Demonstrate your commitment to circularity through data and waste audits
✓ Comply with local recycling regulations using its customizable AI
✓ Divert more waste from landfills and reduce your carbon footprint
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED
LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement. LEED-certified buildings save money, improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions and create healthier places for people. They are critical to addressing climate change and meeting ESG goals, enhancing resilience, and supporting more equitable communities.
The LEED rating system awards points for:
✓ A waste reduction program that reuses, recycles, or composts a minimum percentage of the waste stream
Using AI and machine learning, TrashBot:
✓ Sorts with 96% accuracy, meaning less contamination and higher diversion rates
✓ Improves composting efforts by 200% or more
Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes
Green Globes is a comprehensive, science-based, three-in-one certification system that evaluates the environmental sustainability, health & wellness, and resilience of all types of commercial real estate. With Green Globes, buildings:
✓ Set opportunities for energy savings, reduce environmental impacts, and lower maintenance costs
✓ Measure progress in the areas of energy, water, emissions, and waste
TrashBot provides benefits for facilities including:
✓ On-demand waste audits that illuminate waste trends for buildings
✓ Data showing what materials should be replaced to increase diversion
✓ Energy-efficient autonomous waste sorting
✓ Fullness alerts so custodians save time on emptying the bins
International Living Future Institute (ILFI)’s Living Building Challenge
What if every single act of design and construction made the world a better place? LBC provides a framework for design, construction and the symbiotic relationship between people, our community, and nature. The certification consists of imperatives in place, water, energy, materials, equity, and more, and includes Net Positive Waste, which requires:
✓ Management of materials and waste in the phases of design, construction, operation, and end of life
TrashBot’s one-year tenure at a high-traffic facility resulted in:
✓ Collection of 1,800 lbs of recyclables
✓ Abatement of 2.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide
International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard
Projects pursuing WELL Certification can earn points based on performance outcomes for various policy, design and operational strategies and can achieve one of four certification levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum.
WELL supports green building initiatives and awards points for:
✓ Green building certification (see descriptions for Green Globes and LEED)
✓ Carbon disclosure and reduction
TrashBot’s diversion technology:
✓ Significantly impacts a facility’s waste-related carbon emissions. Download our case study here.
Carbon Trust Standard for Zero Waste to Landfill
Carbon Trust supports organizations globally as they accelerate towards Net Zero, by providing independent verification, certification and assurance services that recognize real achievements in sustainability, enhance reputation and build trust with customers, investors, and stakeholders. The Standard for Zero Waste to Landfill:
✓ Develops and communicates your leadership in waste management
With TrashBot:
✓ Improve your waste diversion with 3x more accurate sorting
✓ Engage your visitors about good recycling habits
✓ Prioritize the compost stream and divert food waste from landfills
Zero Waste Business Certification
The Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) takes a rigorous approach towards zero waste. For the business certification, they stipulate that candidates must:
✓ Achieve a zero-waste to landfill, incineration, and environment rate of 90% or higher
TrashBot’s sorting technology means:
✓ Reduced contamination and 300% more accurate sorting
✓ Automatic compliance to local rules and regulations
✓ Significantly improved diversion through collection of clean recyclables and food waste