AI's Latest Trick: Pulling Valuable Commodities Out of Our Trash
AI-powered robotic trash sorters are becoming common in recycling facilities, making thousands of decisions per minute to recover valuable materials from waste streams.
InnovationGNGV Editorial Team4 min readLast reviewed September 28, 2026
Republic Services, the nation's second-largest waste management company, now has AI-powered robotic sorters in one-third of their 79 facilities. These machines are trained on thousands of varieties of common trash and make thousands of decisions per minute.
"There really is value in a lot of recyclables and garbage," said Matanya Horowitz of AMP Robotics. "The problem has been that the cost of pulling those materials out is similar to or greater than the actual value." AMP's Delta sorting machine can pick out 80 items per minute.
