Edinburgh-based data analytics business Topolytics has won an award for innovation at the National Recycling Awards.
Its waste map software used machine learning to make waste more visible and verifiable for councils and bodies to track.
The company was praised for its “forward thinking” approach that modernised global waste management by enabling producers to understand how much waste they generate.
Wastemap is used by producers, processors, investors and regulators to generate better environmental and commercial outcomes.
Topolytics has been working with the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs to create a digital waste regulation system for the UK, analysing the hundreds of millions of regulated waste movements in and out of the country each year.
Dr Michael Groves, chief executive at Topolytics, said: “The waste system is complex, the waste industry is global and the value of waste is significant - we make this system more visible, build trust in the data so that globally we can capture the value in this material.
“WasteMap is the means through which we can filter, process and analyse significant amounts of data on detailed waste movements – this helps waste producers, recyclers, investors and others across the waste value chain to identify operational, cost and resource efficiencies and build robust business models for now and the future.”
The MRW National Recycling Awards bring together recycling and waste management professionals to recognise and celebrate best practice and innovation in recycling and waste management.
Corin Williams, MRW editor, added: “This has a challenging year for us all and the commitment from the thousands of employees represented at the NRAs has been inspirational - they are keeping the country going and are lighting the way to a more resource-efficient future.”
The award comes on the back of a $100,000 prize won in the Google Cloud and SAP Circular Economy 2030 Contest in 2019.
Topolytics has also been recognised by the Ellen MacAuthur Foundation as a global circular economy innovator and by the Cleantech Group as one of the leading ‘smart waste’ companies.
The firm is working with SAP on the COP26 Waste Insights Project, which will showcase the power of innovative technologies in unlocking value from more than nine billion tonnes of waste produced globally.
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