A company in Walnut Creek, Calif., that reduces waste sent to landfills through digitalization and streamlining of waste data collection and maintenance processes for waste management professionals has received a $400,000 contract from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to expand its work.
Zabble Inc., received the contract through the EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research program to expand development of a zero-waste management platform using artificial intelligence, a Nov. 16 news release said.
“The technology that this research will advance reduces waste going to landfills, which is critical to protecting communities from pollution and reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said in the release. “As EPA celebrates America Recycles Day (Nov. 15), we are proud to further efforts like Zabble’s to improve how communities across the country recycle and compost.”
Zabble has a platform called Zabble Zero that uses artificial intelligence “to identify a waste bin’s fullness and contaminants from photos” in order to recommend adjustments to “container sizes to reduce waste disposal and costs,” the release said. Healthcare organizations, universities and corporate campuses are among entities that use the platform.
The new contract will allow Zabble Zero to be expanded “into a ‘command center’ for efficiently managing waste management workflows and material flows across an organization,” the release said.
“The Zabble Zero platform is the first artificial intelligence-powered software platform built for generators to efficiently manage their material streams and workflows from disposal to hauling,” Nik Balachandran, the founder and CEO of Zabble, said in the release.
