Sortrace raises $800K for AI-powered household waste analysis

Stockholm-based Sortrace, which develops AI technology for waste analysis, has raised roughly $800,000 in a round led by Almi Invest. Antler, Gorilla Capital and several angel investors also took part.

The company was founded by Rahel Surshi, who serves as CEO, and Tomas Kjellstrand. Its system combines computer vision, camera sensors and data analytics so that municipalities and waste management firms can monitor how households sort their waste and see where improvement is needed.

Cameras on collection vehicles

Swedish municipalities carry a growing responsibility for making sure household waste is sorted correctly. Yet they often lack data on what bins actually contain, which makes it hard to judge whether collection systems and recycling campaigns work.

Sortrace tackles this with cameras mounted on waste collection vehicles. As each bin is emptied, the AI identifies and analyses the contents and turns the images into structured data that can reveal incorrect sorting and collection patterns. Results are tied to individual bin and route data, pointing to the areas where habits need to change.

"Municipalities face new requirements and are investing heavily in collection and in information to households. But without data, no one knows whether those efforts work. We make mis-sorting visible at every emptying, so municipalities can act where the problems actually are," said Surshi.

Why it matters

According to Sortrace, better data can support more informed decisions, potentially cutting waste management costs, reducing the amount of waste sent to incineration and lifting recycling rates. The company says its analysis is privacy-protected and that images are stored within the EU.

Sortrace already works with several municipalities and organisations in the recycling sector. The new funding will help it meet growing municipal demand and extend its technology beyond collection vehicles to other stages of the waste management process.