Greyparrot is a leading AI waste analytics platform for the circular economy. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Greyparrot co-founder and chief product officer (CPO) Ambarish Mitra to learn more.
Formation Of Greyparrot
How did the idea for Greyparrot come together? Mitra said:
“My co-founders and I have experience in building, scaling and commercializing AI computer vision tools. We wanted to use that expertise to make a positive impact on the environment, and saw the waste crisis as one of the most serious contributors to global emissions and climate change.”
“It quickly became clear that the sector was contending with heavily manual processes and a lack of data. Those factors resulted in low recycling rates and valuable material being sent to landfill, incineration, and the natural environment. We made it our goal to increase automation and transparency within the waste sector, and to give recycling professionals the insight they needed to unlock more value from their waste streams. Waste intelligence was the obvious solution, because manual sorting and sampling captures data on less than 1% of waste. With AI, we’re able to track 100% of the waste objects passing through a facility.”
Core Products
What are Greyparrot’s core products and features? Mitra explained:
“Greyparrot’s core product is an AI waste analytics platform known as Greyparrot Analyzer. We install Analyzer Units above conveyor belts in recycling facilities, which use cameras to capture images of our customers’ waste objects. Our AI uses those images to categorize each waste object based on material, mass, financial value, potential emissions and brand — right down to individual stock-keeping units (SKU, e.g. Diet Coke, 300mL). Facility managers access that data in real-time using an analytics dashboard, using it to guide and optimize their sorting processes.”
“We now have over 90 active units around the world, which analyze around 60 billion waste objects every single year. That data can then be used by waste management organizations, packaging producers, major FMCG brands and policy-makers to inform a more sustainable approach to production and consumption.”
“That data isn’t restricted to our platform. We aim to become the ‘brain’ powering the entire waste ecosystem, and have taken a ‘hardware and software-agnostic’ approach. Greyparrot Sync is our integration platform, which our customers use to connect Analyser’s insight with recycling equipment and software. Integrations help out customers improve the accuracy of sorting arms, automate the sampling process, generate reports instantly, and more. By spreading AI insight beyond our own dashboards, we’re aiming to enhance as much recovery infrastructure as possible. We’ve taken AI waste analytics beyond data collection to offer something more holistic, and unique to Greyparrot – waste intelligence.”
Evolution Of Greyparrot’s Technology
How has Greyparrot’s technology evolved since launching? Mitra noted:
“The technology our customers have access to has evolved in both complexity and scale. With each new unit we install, our datasets grow exponentially, and our AI becomes more accurate. We’ve been through four iterations of our Analyser Units since 2019, and are preparing to launch our fifth. Our system is now active in 14 countries, with our data helping the world’s leading waste management companies (including SUEZ, Veolia, Biffa and more) recover more material.”
“Greyparrot AI itself is constantly evolving, and can now recognise 67 different kinds of material — covering all of the solid municipal waste a facility is likely to receive. Our waste “recognition library” will soon reach 100 categories, and we’re now working towards recognition for the construction and demolition industry — one of the world’s most polluting sectors.”
“As part of our Sync integration development, we have also developed integrations with some of the sector’s leading machinery and software manufacturers. So far, we’ve collaborated to build more accurate sorting arms, dedicated auto-sampling cabins, and industry-first facility monitoring software – all powered with live waste data.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Greyparrot’s most significant milestones? Mitra cited:
“Each new deployment represents another step towards our goal of putting waste intelligence into the hands of those who power the circular economy. Enabling recovery facility professionals to maximise the value of their material with waste intelligence has been a privilege. I recently had a CIO of a major waste management company say: “Greyparrot comes up a lot in our conversations when we need solutions to new problems we have.”
“The most recent milestone has been our entry into the US market. After attracting investment from Regeneration.VC and Closed Loop Partners — America’s leading climate-conscious investment groups — we have now deployed units in 5 US states. We’re working with the nation’s largest waste management organisation to gather data on America’s waste streams and provide waste intelligence.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking about customer success stories, Mitra replied:
“By capturing data on close to 100% of waste, we’re able to help our customers identify changes in material composition and purity in real-time. This has directly impacted the bottom line for facility managers, because we’ve seen purity shift by 10% from one minute to the next. In one British plastics recovery facility, we were able to help managers uncover sorting inefficiencies that resulted in $2.03 million worth of valuable material being sent to landfill every year.”
“Another client discovered that traditional, manual processes meant they were unintentionally discarding 852 tons of recoverable material on a monthly basis. Aside from the lost material value, it was costing over $70,000 dollars in avoidable landfill and incineration fees, as well as 121 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Greyparrot from its competition? Mitra affirmed:
“Our waste recognition library is one of the most comprehensive on offer, but our special focus on brand and SKU sets us apart when it comes to working with packaging producers and regulators. Producers have struggled with a lack of insight into the true recyclability of their products, and we’re now able to help them improve packaging design by showing them what happens to their products in sorting facilities.”
“Our hardware and software-agnostic approach is also unique in our sector, making Greyparrot the most flexible and collaborative AI waste analytics system available. We’ve focused on specialisation rather than an “all-in-one” solution, making it easier for us to form partnerships that are greater than the sum of their parts. Our units were designed in the same spirit — their size and weight makes them easy to retrofit into existing facilities, which are often costly to adjust.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Greyparrot’s future company goals? Mitra concluded:
“Ultimately, we want to provide the data that transforms the entire waste value chain. The waste sector is at the heart of the circular economy, and we believe it should guide improved packaging design, packaging regulation, and policy enforcement.”
“We plan to share our data with stakeholders across the circular economy to make that impact, and have already initiated partnerships with the world’s largest FMCG companies to that end. We have some exciting partnerships to share on the near horizon.”
