Can we improve the way we recycle? Silicon Valley's developers might have solutions

ByDavid Louie KGO logo

Friday, March 25, 2022

Future of recycling? Here's Silicon Valley's at-home solution

Bay Area developers have created an environmentally friendly appliance called Lasso Loop that makes recycling easy.

SAN MATEO, Calif. (KGO) -- Developers in Silicon Valley have engineered a machine they believe is the next environmentally friendly appliance to recycle while also combatting climate change. And it's available for home use.

As climate change continues to impact our daily lives, many are looking for ways to better combat, address and renew their everyday tasks. One common, but not so efficient, mundane task is recycling.

The continuous question of what is and isn't recyclable, alongside what is or isn't clean enough leads to massive redundant waste. Plastic and glass items that would have otherwise been recycled end up in piles of landfill.

The Lasso Loop sorts through, cleans, and compacts recyclables into a neat block shipped directly to factories that repurpose them.

"It takes out the guesswork. You just insert an item, and if it isn't recyclable, it will present it right back to you. If it is, it'll take it and it will process it down into its raw form," Dominique Leonard, marketing manager of Lasso Loop, says.

For example, if you're recycling glass, the Lasso Loop will use its complex set of scanners and artificial intelligence to sort a glass bottle by color, remove the label, wash and dry it, and then break it into shards suitable for commercial recyclers to make into new glassware.

At this stage of development, there are still some quirks. It's a bit noisy like a coffee grinder, a bit too large, larger than a dishwasher, and costs a pretty penny, $3,500 apiece. However, as it continues to be developed and mass commercialized, these oddities should be resolved.