The startup Ganiga.ai is revolutionising waste management with Hoooly, the smart bin designed for homes and public spaces.
Artificial intelligence to revolutionise waste management. The concept of "smart bins" has been discussed for several years, but the startup Ganiga.ai sets itself even more ambitious goals: optimising collection and disposal processes, reducing environmental impacts and raising rates of actual recycling. Not only along the streets of our cities but also at residential level, where there is clearly room for improvement.
The European targets for 2035 envisage achieving 65 per cent actual recycling of total collected waste. Italy currently stands at 49.2 per cent, meaning that, beyond raising the percentages of separate waste collection, there is still a long way to go in terms of the quality of separate collection itself and overall waste management. These are the challenges that startup Ganiga.ai – founded in 2021 by Nicolas Lorenzo Zeoli and Gabriele Cavallaro, experts in robotic programming and supply chains respectively – addresses with Hoooly.
Not a simple smart bin but a true robot that uses an advanced artificial intelligence algorithm capable of instantly sorting waste autonomously with 95 per cent accuracy. You simply insert the waste into the bin's single opening; it recognises it and, using jets of air, directs it into the dedicated container, improving the efficiency of the recycling process. The identification of waste type is carried out via computer vision: a sensor activates the system when something is inserted, a camera frames the object and another sensor determines its weight. Data analysis is crucial both for the system itself, which becomes progressively more precise by reducing margins of error, and for waste cycle managers, who can access detailed information on consumer behaviour, waste production trends and recycling rates.
Hoooly manages sorting entirely autonomously: human intervention is only required when it is time to empty it. And even from this perspective, technology supports waste cycle managers, because the remote monitoring functionality enables real-time control of container fill levels, optimising collection routes. This represents a considerable saving in terms of time (quantifiable at up to 30 per cent) and CO2 emissions associated with collection activities. There are two main advantages linked to the use of generative artificial intelligence. On the one hand, it makes it possible to analyse waste that has been inserted and generate statistics to reduce the production of further waste: this involves reliable, blockchain-certified data that can be included in a company's sustainability report. At the same time, AI can recognise waste inside the bin and sort it instantly.
Initially conceived for placement on streets, in shopping centres, businesses and large gathering venues such as hotels and airports, this product can now also be used in the home. Hoooly!Indoor is a bin that functions as a built-in household appliance fitted directly into the kitchen; in addition to sorting waste and managing door-to-door collection, it is able to quantify food waste, raising public awareness on the issue. Hoooly!small, meanwhile, is a plug-in for existing bins.
Finally, there is an even more sustainable version of Hoooly, born out of Enel Green Power's Wind New Life project, made from recycled materials sourced from decommissioned wind turbine blades. A concrete response to an important issue – the decommissioning of wind farms with over 20 years of service behind them – that integrates open innovation with the circular economy.
