With the United States recycling less than 33% of recyclable materials overall—and just 9% of plastics—produced annually, the ability to recover recyclables from residual waste streams represents a major opportunity to increase national recycling rates.
Residual waste is the difficult-to-recycle material left over from primary MRFs that is typically sent to landfill. Residue contributes to the millions of tons of recyclables and billions of dollars worth of material feedstock lost to landfill despite the demand for recycled content from consumer packaged goods companies and manufacturers.
AMP’s next-generation secondary sorting facilities apply advanced automation enabled by AI to economically sort through these low volumes of residue to recover mixed plastics like PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, and PS.
These material streams also contain high-value recyclables like used beverage cans (UBCs) and old corrugated cardboard (OCC) that are in high demand for resale to aluminum manufacturers and paper mills. AMP’s secondary facilities drive down the cost of recovery while creating contamination-free, high-quality bales of recycled material for resale.
AMP’s business model also introduces market certainty and new revenue streams for established MRFs by creating demand for residue that would otherwise cost businesses to dispose of.
With the success of its pilot, the company plans to roll out a number of secondary facilities in other parts of the country during 2021. AMP is actively seeking to expand supply partnerships with waste management companies to acquire residual waste.
The company is also working with an undisclosed group of end-market buyers for the sale of its recycled bales of plastics, paper, and metals.
Last month, AMP announced it raised $55 million in corporate equity in a Series B financing, led by XN with participation from new investors Valor Equity Partners and GV as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, Congruent Ventures, and Closed Loop Partners. This new round of funding followed a $16 million Series A financing led by Sequoia Capital in November 2019.