Greyparrot, Van Dyk Recycling Solutions form partnership

Greyparrot, a London-based artificial intelligence (AI) recycling facility analytics software developer, has announced a partnership with Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, the exclusive North American distributor of Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions’ equipment, following Greyparrot and Bollegraaf’s February announcement of their plan to roll out of AI in recycling plants worldwide.

Norwalk, Connecticut-based Van Dyk, which services more than 50 percent of the U.S. waste management market, will serve as the sole distributor of the Greyparrot Analyzer across all 50 states, leveraging its longstanding relationship with Bollegraaf and expertise in municipal and single-stream recycling.

Greyparrot's analyzer uses AI camera systems to provide full visibility into material streams at recycling plants across more than 20 countries. In 2023, the company says it helped facilities analyze more than 25 billion objects, characterizing them into more than 89 categories in real time to reveal seven layers of data, including material type, mass, financial value, brand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

WasteExpo attendees will have the opportunity to see a live demo of the Greyparrot Analyzer by visiting Van Dyk at booth No. 2943 at WasteExpo 2024, May 7-9 in Las Vegas.

Van Dyk serves more than 340 material recovery facilities (MRFs) in North America and has 2,400 installations to date, according to a news release from Greyparrot announcing the partnership, positioning the company to provide the physical recycling infrastructure. Greyparrot's ability to embed AI analytics into software and hardware systems adds the digital layer. 

The companies plan to retrofit large MRFs across the U.S. with advanced AI sorting capabilities to significantly boost recycling rates, maximize material purity and digitally quantify emissions. Two large recyclers of postconsumer materials in the U.S. have signed on to pilot Greyparrot’s AI waste analytics in America, according to Greyparrot.

“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," says Pieter Eenkema van Dijk, president and CEO of Van Dyk Recycling Solutions.

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

Greyparrot says the world will generate three times the waste it produces today by 2060, adding that it will be necessary 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 postuse materials and direct them back into the circular economy.