RecycleSmart Solutions is one of four semi-finalists for the Globe's Small Business Challenge contest
RecycleSmart Solutions Inc. helps companies in Canada and the United States be more environmentally sensitive. The firm has developed technology that uses ultrasonic sensors to gauge the content level of a waste or recycling bin. This ensures that trucks will carry away only full bins, which makes the collection process more efficient. Pictured is Colin Bell, co-founder and managing partner.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
This graphic supplied by RecycleSmart Solutions shows how a sensor inside the bin sends out a “ping” signal using sound waves every hour. It then sends signals to a nearby cellular modem. “When the bin is 85 per cent full, the cell modem ‘calls’ for pickup,” explains Mr. Bell.
This is the sensor, which is mounted inside the trash or recycling bin.
RecycleSmart employs six full-time workers and five contractors. Revenue over the past three years has grown dramatically, to $500,000 from $76,000.
The company also conducts waste audits to help companies recycle better.
Now all RecycleSmart needs to do is persuade customers and waste management companies that it makes business and environmental sense to let the content level of their bins – and not a preset schedule – dictate when their waste should be picked up. Mr. Bell says waste-management providers have been cool to RecycleSmart’s idea because switching to pickup on demand will cut revenue. But that’s only in the short term, he says; reduced pickups from existing customers will free up space on their trucks and allow them to service more customers. To make a case for its potentially disruptive technology, RecycleSmart wants to roll out 100 bins in North America and run a pilot project for six months.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail