Google announced that it has signed a new multi-year agreement with AI-powered recycling technology provider AMP Robotics to purchase 200,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits generated through a project that will avoid emissions from organic landfill waste by converting it into biochar.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, landfilled municipal solid waste is the third-largest source of human-generated methane emissions in the U.S.
Founded in 2015, Colorado-based AMP applies AI and automation technology to waste sortation, in order to enable economical recovery of commodities. The company is currently developing AI-powered sortation technology to recover organic material from municipal solid waste facilities, which it will turn into biochar to sequester greenhouse gases that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere as the waste decomposed.
AMP signed a 20-year contract last year with the Virginia-based regional waste authority SPSA to deploy its system to cost-effectively process municipal solid waste, boost recycling and landfill diversion rates. AMP said that the project will ultimately process 540,000 tons of waste annually, with at least 50% diverted or repurposed, noting that each ton diverted reduces or sequesters more than 0.7 tons of CO2e.
The company said that the new purchase agreement with Google will enable it to add biochar production capacity to the project, unlocking the potential to convert five million tons of organic waste into biochar over the next 20 years.
Matanya Horowitz, AMP founder and Chief Technology Officer, said:
“The waste industry is built to capture value from materials. With biochar, we can turn organic waste from a major source of emissions into a durable, carbon-storing asset for municipalities and waste operators. Together with Google, we’re helping transform one of the economy’s most emissions-intensive sectors into a force for climate impact.”
In addition to the carbon removal deal, Google and AMP also said that they will work together to establish frameworks for quantifying the impact that waste diversion paired with biochar carbon removal could have on methane elimination, in order to help scale the solutions across the municipal waste industry.
Randy Spock, Carbon Credits and Removal Lead at Google, said:
“We’re excited to catalyze an approach to waste management that takes on the twin challenges of climate change: the near-term warming of methane and the long-term warming of carbon dioxide. AMP’s technology, through its partnerships with local waste management authorities, offers a scalable way to turn waste organic materials into a real climate solution, all while supporting local communities by reducing waste and mitigating air pollution.”
