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As the world continues to grapple with the ongoing climate crisis, the need for more sustainable waste management practices has become increasingly urgent.
Waste not only contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, but it is also a valuable resource that can be leveraged for a more circular economy.
Enter Topolytics, a UK-based climate tech company that is using artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to improve waste management and promote circularity.
Through its WasteMap platform, Topolytics is generating valuable insights for waste producers, recyclers, and governments.
By leveraging machine learning algorithms, the platform analyzes large volumes of waste data to identify opportunities for waste reduction and diversion, driving operational efficiencies and reducing carbon emissions.
In doing so, Topolytics is enabling circular economy principles by making waste visible, verifiable, and valuable.
In this episode of Climate Tech 100, we interview Topolytics to learn more about how their technology is transforming the waste industry and combating climate change.
We delve into the concepts of circular economy, AI, waste management, and sustainability, exploring how Topolytics is using data analytics to drive greater resource efficiency and materials recovery.
We also discuss the challenges facing corporate reporters in this space, and how Topolytics’ platform is helping to address these challenges by providing greater visibility and transparency throughout the waste supply chain.
Can you tell us more about WasteMap and how it works to create value for your clients and the waste industry?
Topolytics is a data analytics business that is making the world’s waste visible, verifiable and valuable.
Its WasteMap® platform generates insights for waste producers, recyclers and government, that enable greater materials recovery, drive operational efficiencies, support investment strategies, enhance ESG reporting and reduce carbon emissions.
Topolytics is acknowledged by IDC, Frost & Sullivan, SAP, World Economic Forum and Accenture as a leading analytics player in the global $4.5Bn smart waste management market.
Topolytics has created a prototype of the UK government’s mandatory digital waste tracking system and in 2020, was named best Technology Innovation at the UK Recycling Awards.
In 2022, Topolytics was chosen as a leading innovator for the global Circulars Accelerator run by the World Economic Forum and Accenture.
How does Topolytics enable circular economy principles through your waste and resources analytics?
Waste is ultimately a by-product of economic activity, by businesses, government and households.
But waste is also an input to economic activity – whether through recycled material or refuse derived fuel.
Its management therefore has real economic implications – for productivity, government expenditure, and of course, the environment.
But it is not homogenous or easily categorised.
Waste is a physical material (asset) that is created in one location, then moved for storage, transfer, sale, processing, disposal or reuse.
This is a complex picture physically, commercially and geographically.
If waste and recycling data and measures in ESG reports are to be trusted, it requires an understanding of the processes and commercial models associated with the production, movement and processing of the material.
This in turn requires the ability to access, process, standardise and analyse data from many sources in different formats – which is what WasteMap does.
Only then can it be distilled and visualised to generate meaningful, comparable metrics that can feed into reporting and actionable insights that can drive greater resource efficiency, materials recovery and circularity.
How does WasteMap utilize machine learning to improve waste management processes and outcomes?
If we drill into waste and recycling as a sustainability ‘issue’, there are key challenges facing corporate reporters.
Firstly, the waste management companies define and measure waste differently (despite the presence of classification schemes).
They also collect, store and process this data in different ways, which means there is a tremendous variety in the reports presented back to customers and an inherent level of opacity.
Corporate reporters therefore have poor or limited visibility over this downstream supply chain and knowledge of what happens to their waste.
WasteMap uses machine learning and other analytical techniques across the wide range of waste supply chain data, in order to build a better version of the truth about what the type and amount of material and what happens to it.
What challenges have you faced in aggregating and cleaning data on waste types, amounts, and movements, and how have you overcome them?
Globally, publicly available waste management data is usually drawn from national regulators and agencies.
They, in turn, require commercial waste companies and municipal authorities to disclose data on a regular basis.
The quality of this data is by its nature varied because the $1.6 trillion industry that manages and processes this material ranges from multinational corporations to informal community enterprises.
A key global challenge is the ability to monitor the billions of material movements annually, from hazardous sludges, through construction waste, inert recyclables (such as plastics and card), metals, organics/food and ‘special’ waste materials from industrial processes.
This opaque and inconsistent picture is an acknowledged problem, however, without this data and the analytical opportunities it presents, the outcomes will not be optimal and the significant value in waste materials or by-products will not be realised.
This issue is not unique to waste, many ESG factors face similar limitations, where data which can vary considerably depending on region, sector, size or indeed regulatory structures.
Can you share some examples of how WasteMap has helped clients achieve greater materials recovery and operational efficiencies?
WasteMap is currently being used by a group of manufacturing businesses (UK and multinational) to validate corporate KPIs, improve ESG metrics and identify processes within the operation that can reduce waste or maximise its recovery potential.
WasteMap is being used by a global airline to make sense of its complex waste supply chain data across multiple sites and business units.
This is identifying efficiencies and providing high quality, standardised data for corporate ESG reporting.
WasteMap is being used by a global mining and minerals company to build a clearer picture of its waste contractor performance and generate high quality data for its corporate ESG reporting.
How does Topolytics ensure data privacy and security for your clients?
Topolytics uses best in class software, data hosting, processing and analytics tools to ensure that all client specific data is ringfenced and secure.
We back this up with clear data management agreements.
How do you see the role of technology evolving in the waste and resources management industry?
As corporate waste producers and the waste industry adapt to a policy environment dominated by waste reduction and circularity, there is a need for new infrastructure and business models.
The system may well become more decentralised and distributed and waste producers will want to exert more control over measurement and management as they seek to understand what happens to their waste and drive elimination and re-use of products and materials.
Industry 4.0 technologies will also play a part, with bin sensors, smart labels, robotics and machine vision systems collecting data across parts of the system and across certain materials, particularly packaging.
These technologies will only measure parts of the overall system, so the ability to make sense of multiple systems and data sources, will remain vital – even in the context of a corporate reporter’s waste and recycling performance.
Can you talk about any upcoming initiatives or partnerships that Topolytics has planned to expand its impact?
We continue to expand our partner ecosystem – working with industry, technology and specialist advisors internationally.
What are some of the biggest obstacles you see to achieving a circular economy, and how can Topolytics help address them?
The Environmental factors (E) in ESG are dominated by measures of carbon emissions, energy and NetZero, but less attention is paid to materials use and waste.
This, in turn, is reflected in the relatively poor quality of data and associated metrics on waste and recycling referenced in corporate sustainability reports.
This is a problem, particularly given the higher costs for raw materials and energy, plus greater regulatory oversight on waste.
This data deficiency also deflects from the significant level of carbon emissions linked to the way material is handled and used.
As pressure increases on companies to improve the quality and consistency of ESG data and for financial institutions to move beyond superficial sustainability engagement, it is time for a sharper focus on waste management and recycling.
If companies are to publish higher quality, validated and comparable data on their waste and recycling performance, they need to gain more insights into the processes and commercial models associated with the production, movement and processing of the material.
Only then can financial markets generate meaningful, comparable metrics and the companies generate actionable insights that can drive greater cost and resource efficiencies, validate compliance and increase corporate value.
How does Topolytics envision its role in supporting governments’ waste management policies and regulations at local, regional, and national levels?
Waste generation nearly doubled between 1970 and 2000 and continues to grow exponentially.
The World Bank estimates that waste generated in urban areas will total 3.4 billion tonnes per annum by 2040.
Currently, more than 60% of this material is sent to landfill and more than 61% of the world’s population do not have access to adequate recycling infrastructure – creating significant economic loss, social problems and environmental danger.
These rising levels of waste are also linked to the rapid growth in consumption.
The 2022 Circularity Gap report notes that over 90% of the materials extracted and used to make products and packaging, ultimately become waste.
In essence, only 8.6% of these materials are fed back into the production system.
This is poor from a resource efficiency perspective but perhaps more so in relation to climate, given that about 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are linked to the way material is handled and used.
The full social cost of these emissions is not accounted for in the production and consumption decisions which lead to the generation of the waste, or in how that waste is managed.
Ensuring that the amount of waste is reduced to an economically efficient and environmentally viable level will ensure that associated policies deliver net benefits for society as a whole.
Summary
To learn more about Topolytics, visit https://topolytics.com/.
To find out more about other creative ways AI is being deployed to combat climate change, read Top 5 Ways Artificial Intelligence is Used to Fight Climate Change.
