SuperBin: Whole Value Chain of Recycling

“The existing linear economy isn’t sustainable. Our goal is to help create a circular economic structure,” said Kim Jeungbin, founder and Chief Executive Officer of SuperBin.

A South Korean startup is seeking to solve the issues surrounding waste and environmental pollution by using artificial intelligence.

SuperBin collects recyclable garbage from the initial waste-sorting stage, reprocesses it into high value-added renewable material and sells it to companies that need recycled resources.

While it is easy to assume that sorting through waste automatically leads to recycling, most waste is either incinerated or sent to landfills. Around 70% of the waste that arrives at recycling centers ends up at incineration plants due to it not being properly sorted during the collection process. As the result, it becomes contaminated by other waste products during transport and unable to be recycled into quality items.

To this end, SuperBin has developed an AI robot that collects circular resources such as recyclable PET bottles and cans. The robot, dubbed Nephron, is also the name of the smallest unit of kidney. The kidneys act as filters for ridding the body of waste and toxic substances; and return vitamins and other substances into the bloodstream.

Nephron is a reverse vending machine with a slot for recyclable waste instead of coins. When users insert PET bottles and cans into a Nephron, it uses AI vision technology to determine if the item is recyclable. If an item is contaminated or unusable for whatever reason, Nephron will discharge it. A single Nephron robot can accommodate up to 1,500 PET bottles and cans.

Users earn 10 won or less than $0.01 in SuperBin Points each time they insert a recyclable item into a Nephron. Once they save over 2,000 won ($1.70), they can cash out by transferring their SuperBin Point savings to their banking accounts.

SuperBin is now treating beyond PET and aluminum cans.

The company recently launched a Nephron that exclusively collects food packaging container lids made from polypropylene (PP,) in collaboration with Korea’s leading food delivery service operator Baedal Minjok, or Baemin. The collected PP lids, which can be transparent, translucent or white, are reprocessed into usable materials and sold to petrochemical companies.

Other projects SuperBin is pursuing are reprocessing used plastic into the usable kind or turning unrecyclable garbage such as food waste into energy sources. It is also worth noting that the company plans to enter the Solid Refuse Fuel (SRF) market, which turns used plastic and wood into fuel through a grinding and drying process.