UK-based Greyparrot finds exclusive US distributor for its AI waste analytics platform

08 May 2024 --- AI-powered waste analytics business Greyparrot is partnering with Van Dyk Recycling Solutions for exclusive distributorship in the US. The companies plan to retrofit large materials recovery facilities (MRFs) across the US with advanced AI sorting capabilities to boost recycling rates, maximize material purity and digitally quantify emissions.

The partnership follows Greyparrot’s announcement in February about collaborating with recycling giant Bollegraaf to integrate AI into global recycling plants. Van Dyk Recycling Solutions is the exclusive North American distributor of Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions’ equipment.

Van Dyk, which reportedly services over 50% of the US waste management market, will now serve as the sole distributor of the AI camera hardware unit, Greyparrot Analyzer, across all 50 states, leveraging its longstanding relationship with Bollegraaf and expertise in municipal and single-stream recycling across the country.

“We’re excited to partner with Van Dyk as the US market represents a huge opportunity for deploying AI waste analytics,” says Mikela Druckman, CEO at Greyparrot. “Our strategic alliance will meet the growing demand from the largest US waste facilities to digitize and automate the sorting of recyclables to process a massive amount of waste and unlock its full financial value.”

Van Dyk serves over 340 MRFs and has installed over 2,400 recycling solutions. Hence, the partners say it is “well-positioned” to provide the physical recycling infrastructure. Meanwhile, Greyparrot’s ability to embed AI waste analytics into software and hardware systems adds the essential digital layer.

Next-generation recycling
Two unnamed “large recyclers” of post-consumer materials in the US have signed on as waste facility owners and operators to pilot Greyparrot’s AI waste analytics in America.

“Having Greyparrot’s AI waste analytics platform as part of our offering will help our customers optimize their recycling operations and increase recovery and profits,” shares Pieter Eenkema van Dijk, president and CEO of Van Dyk Recycling Solutions.

The AI solutions provider says by 2060, the world will generate three times the waste it produces today and there is a critical need to build next-generation plants and retrofit older ones with new technologies — such as AI — to speed up processing times, unlock the financial value of waste and direct materials back into the circular economy.

“We collect waste data using the Greyparrot Analyzer. Our camera systems are mounted on moving conveyor belts in recovery facilities, and our AI reveals real-time insights on over 70 waste categories across seven layers of data, including material type, brand, SKU, financial value, potential GHG emissions and food-grade,” Druckman previously told Packaging Insights.

“We see millions of tons of potentially recoverable material lost to landfills and incinerators. It’s both a financial and environmental issue — in the US, a lack of visibility and automation leads to US$80–120 billion being lost — and that’s just for plastics.”

By Radhika Sikaria

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