The world generates over 2 billion tons of waste annually. The process of transporting that waste from consumers and businesses to disposal and reclamation centers is highly inefficient. With 9 out of 10 trash bins being picked up too early or too late, resources including time, fuel, and money are being misspent. WasteHero is using sensors and software to create a highly efficient operating system for the waste management industry.
WasteHero solves waste collection by monitoring the fill-level of trash bins and creating optimized collection routes. Its predictive algorithm provides detailed insights into waste streams to ensure that collections are mapped to trash bins that are detected as full. Beyond saving resources for collectors in cities, fewer pick-ups result in reduced traffic congestion, unwanted noise, and CO2 emissions.
The idea for WasteHero started when the CEO and co-founder Hussam Mansour noticed that the bins at Aarhus University in Denmark were often emptied half-full. Hussam decided to build an IoT-based dynamic waste collection system and was able to convince local officials to adopt it. The goal was simple — eliminate as many unnecessary pickups as possible, while saving cost and decreasing pollution.
The project was highly successful, showing 71% annual savings of the total collection cost. This led local officials to scale the project up to all 412 local bins. Soon after, WasteHero was funded by the highly sought Danish incubator program InnoFounder for a full year.
Hussam Mansour later joined forces with current CTO and co-founder Khaled Saied, determined to bring sustainable waste collection to every corner of the world. Like Hussam Mansour, Khaled Saied has a passion for environmental and technology-driven business models, and a strong engineering background within IoT and machine learning.
The company just announced their $1.2M seed round to accelerate growth and expand operations internationally. They are working with state and local governments, sanitation companies, and property managers. Their pace of innovation and sales growth have been fantastic. I’m excited to support the team in their efforts to make the world a cleaner place!