London-based Sorted Secures over €1.9 million in Seed Funding

The 2.12 billion tonnes of rubbish that are discarded annually throughout the world have a terrible impact on the air, water, and land. The demand from governments to utilise more recycled materials and less single-use items is growing.

The intricacy of sorting recycled materials, including plastic, is making it difficult for the garbage sector to satisfy demand, which is compounding a $133 billion potential lost.

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Sorted is addressing the issue of global sustainability by improving the ability of human pickers to identify and retrieve certain items. Their technology recognises, distinguishes, and locates valuable goods in recycling lines using computer vision, spectroscopy, and coloured lasers powered by artificial intelligence. This innovative application of AI provides a digital solution for a very tangible issue.

Sorted's initial use case has seen a 50% improvement in residual trash recovery because to picker speed improvements. Every item that is retrieved indicates less carbon emissions and more income possibilities for Sorted's clients rather than being burned.

Arthur Goujon, Co-Founder and CTO at Sorted said: “Our mission is to help waste management companies sort their waste more effectively and maximise recovery of recyclable materials through aiding Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and Plastic Recovery Facilities (PRFs) in improving their workforce efficiency. We use AI to augment and better enable human pickers, and our UK pilots show increased revenue and performance as well as reduced costs through using Sorted’s technology.

Faisal Butt, Founder and Managing Partner at Pi Labs, said: “With global annual waste generation predicted to increase by 70% between 2018 and 2050, we urgently need innovative solutions to help us move towards a zero waste economy. Corporations risk running afoul of their own corporate sustainability goals unless they maximise their ability to obtain recycled materials. With the creation of their super pickers, Sorted has created a digitalised and sustainable solution to this problem while helping their customers contribute to a circular economy.

Fred Stinchcombe, Production Regional Manager at SUEZ UK, said: “The biggest challenge we have right now is continuously adapting what we do to what brings the most value: either reducing residual waste or achieving higher quality output, but without having to redesign our plants. Sorted is tackling exactly that; the team understands our operation and is pragmatically leveraging technology to start adding value from the start.”

About Sorted

Sorted's goal is to cut waste throughout the world. They are developing AI-driven solutions to assist waste management firms in sorting their recyclables.