Smarter Sorting, an Austin-based startup that helps companies recycle chemicals, announced it has raised $17 million.
The company, founded in 2017, has raised $25 million to date.
US Ecology, a leading regulated waste treatment, and disposal company led the latest round of funding, followed by RTP Ventures and a group of independent industry experts.
Smarter Sorting and US Ecology share a goal of cutting retail regulated waste by 50 percent, according to a news release. The companies are integrating their operations to make that goal a reality.
Smarter Sorting has created a smart chemical database that works with its hardware and software to scan, identify, categorize and sort every class of chemical-containing products. That helps retailers get rid of unwanted chemicals. Smarter Sorting will then arrange to pick up those products to recycle them instead of having them be destroyed in an incinerator.
The new round of funding will help Smarter Sorting increase sales of its retail waste management and compliance platform. But it also helps the company become a top solution provider for consumer product regulatory classification.
“By understanding items down to their chemical level and building software designed to optimize and simplify the use of advanced data, we enable retailers and other stakeholders to sustainably and accountably handled products,” Chris Ripley, Smarter Sorting CEO said in a news release. “By doing so, we are creating a brand-new era of responsible commerce.”
Smarter Sorting, which has more than 30 employees, is based in a building that was once served as an auto mechanic’s garage at 2900 E. Cesar Chavez St.
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