Kiril Gantchev
📅 July 7 - August 11, 2025
📍 Heathrow Compass Centre, London
🤝 Executed in Partnership With Heathrow, Grundon, PEL, and Ameru
Executive Summary
Ameru's Smart Bin deployment at Heathrow's Compass Centre has delivered transformative results in just five weeks. Through AI-powered sorting and real-time analytics, we've opened the path for dramatic improvements in recycling efficiency and cost reduction, setting new standards for sustainable waste management operations.
The impact opportunity was immediately visible and substantial. Ameru's AI waste sorting bin allowed for a purpose-built 4-stream configuration that achieved a 75% reduction in contamination rates, significantly improving the quality of recyclable materials. This optimization led to an opportunity for a remarkable €98.72 cost saving per ton of waste processed, representing a 65.2% reduction in waste management costs.
The Challenge
Sample tests at Heathrow Airport's Compass Centre restaurant revealed that there are several critical waste management challenges typical of busy food service operations:
- High Contamination Rates: up to 80% of materials in recycling bins were contaminated during sample testing with non-recyclable items like tissues, coffee cups, and food containers
- Value Leakage: 20% of valuable recyclables (PET bottles, reusable cups) were incorrectly disposed of in general waste, incurring unnecessary general waste pickup costs
- User Confusion: Staff struggled to make correct sorting decisions in fast-paced environments
- Limited Visibility: No data on what specific materials were being disposed of, making it impossible to identify reduction opportunities
- Sustainability Goals: Difficulty meeting ambitious environmental targets with traditional sorting methods
The Solution
Ameru's AI-powered Smart Bin was deployed at the Compass Centre to automatically sort waste using computer vision, object recognition, and robotics. The system was configured to sort materials into four streams:
- 📄 Paper and Card
- 🍾 PET Bottles
- ♻️ Dry Mixed Recycling
- 🗑️ General Waste
How It Works
- 🤖 AI-Powered Recognition: Computer vision identifies every individual item in real-time, automatically sorting waste into the correct stream.
- 📊 Waste Analytics Dashboard: Comprehensive dashboard tracks contamination rates, value leakage, and identifies materials for elimination.
- 🎯 4-Stream Sorting: Custom configured in the following streams: Paper & Card, Plastic Bottles, Dry Mixed Recycling, and General Waste. All automatically separated.
- ⚡ Quick Deployment: Fully operational within days, with continuous learning through supervised AI training.
- 🔧 Smart Maintenance: AI-based stuck waste detection and dirty receptacle detection to ensure the best user experience.
- ✅ Zero User Burden: Staff and passengers simply drop items, the AI handles all sorting decisions.
Results: Before & After
Before Ameru (Traditional Bins)
| Stream | Weight (g) | % | 1t (€) | 10t (€) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 📄 Paper/Card | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 🍾 PET bottles | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| ♻️ DMR (clean) | 73 | 7.16% | -4.95 | -49.50 |
| ⚠️ DMR contamination | 289 | 28.33% | -42.98 | -429.79 |
| 🗑️ GW accepted | 529 | 51.86% | -78.67 | -786.71 |
| 💔 GW value loss | 129 | 12.65% | -24.78 | -247.84 |
| Total | 1020 | 100.00% | -151.38 | -1513.84 |
After Ameru (Smart Bin)
| Stream | Weight (g) | % | 1t (€) | 10t (€) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 📄 Paper/Card | 56 | 4.99% | 3.38 | 33.80 |
| 🍾 PET bottles | 414 | 36.90% | 25.52 | 255.19 |
| ♻️ DMR (clean) | 102.4 | 9.13% | -6.31 | -63.12 |
| ⚠️ DMR contamination | 25.6 | 2.28% | -3.46 | -34.61 |
| 🗑️ GW accepted | 500 | 44.56% | -67.60 | -675.98 |
| 💔 GW value loss | 24 | 2.14% | -4.19 | -41.92 |
| Total | 1122 | 100.00% | -52.66 | -526.62 |
Results: Waste Flow Comparison
Before Ameru Financial Waste Costs
After Ameru Financial Impact
Tangible Results
The User Experience
User Satisfaction Metrics
- 70% found it "Very Easy" from first use
- 90% said it made recycling more effective
- 80% prefer automatic sorting over education-only approaches
Staff described the Ameru Smart Bin as:
User Testimonials
"LOVED the bin, great way to make recycling fun and interactive as well as ensuring the waste gets properly recycled. Would be great to have some passenger-facing bins as well in the terminals."
— Heathrow Compass Centre Staff Member A
"I was really impressed with the bin the first time I used it and went home telling my family about how impressed I was with it and how quick it was."
— Heathrow Compass Centre Staff Member B
— Heathrow Compass Centre Staff Member C
Material Processing Rates
Understanding the financial impact: revenue (rebates) vs. costs
| Stream | Rate (€/ton) |
|---|---|
| 📄 Paper (standalone) | €77.80 |
| 📦 Card (standalone) | €57.63 |
| 📦 Paper/Card (blended) | €67.72 |
| 🍾 PET Bottles | €69.16 |
| ♻️ DMR (clean) | €-69.16 |
| 🗑️ General Waste | €-151.69 |
Note: Positive values represent revenue (rebates), negative values represent costs. Ameru Smart Bin combines paper and cardboard into a single stream using the blended rate.
Key Takeaways
- Proven Impact: 75% reduction in contamination and 77% reduction in value leakage within 5 weeks
- Financial Benefits: €98.72 cost savings per ton through improved sorting and material recovery
- User Acceptance: 90% of users found the system made recycling more effective
- Data-Driven Insights: Computer vision captures every item, enabling precise waste composition analysis
- Scalability: Staff feedback strongly supports wider deployment across terminals
- Continuous Improvement: AI system learns and adapts through supervised learning
- Recycling Performance: 100% clean PET capture and 100% clean paper/card separation