Amp to operate Waste Connections MRF in Colorado

Amp, a Denver-based provider of artificial intelligence- (AI-) powered sorting technology for the waste and recycling industry, has entered into an agreement with Waste Connections Inc. to equip and operate the Toronto-based company’s greenfield recycling facility in Commerce City, Colorado.

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The Waste Connections facility, which will be commissioned in early 2026, according to Amp, will feature an Amp One system and leverage Amp Smart Sortation to optimize processing up to 62,000 tons of single-stream recyclables annually. Through AMP Smart Sortation, Amp will operate and maintain the system, which will feature Amp’s AI technology, enabling the automated sorting of single-stream recyclables, extracting targeted commodities and producing custom feedstock blends. 

This announcement is the latest in a relationship between the two companies that dates back to 2020, when Amp and Waste Connections entered into a long-term agreement to deploy 24 of Amp’s AI-guided robotics systems on container, fiber and residue lines across numerous Waste Connections MRFs. In 2022, the companies expanded their partnership with Waste Connections’ deployment of more than 50 of Amp’s systems. Waste Connections is the largest operator of AI-guided robotics in the industry, Amp says.

“Amp's innovative design, enabled by its technology, allows the company to offer us a competitive package for achieving our goals in the region,” says Mark Ceresa, division vice president for Waste Connections. “The system is flexible to our scale, sorting and extended producer responsibility compliance needs and can adapt as our commodity needs and waste stream changes. Amp offers us a unique way to enter this market by guaranteeing these capabilities on a pay-per-ton contract.”

Amp One is offered with a zero-down, pay-per-ton model, enabling MRF owners to get industry-leading technology and asset depreciation with unique capital efficiency, according to Amp.

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Amp One’s sortation as a service model means Amp functions as the system operator and performs all maintenance, upgrades and plantwide optimization, while material sourcing, offtake and disposal will be Waste Connection’s responsibility.

Amp says its Amp One system will deliver high recovery rates with guaranteed performance, process certain material streams autonomously and improve its throughput capacity over time with regular software updates. The system leverages continuous AI material and purity monitoring and sorting, replacing multiple screens to provide what the company says is “unprecedented operational flexibility,” including the ability to respond to problems, such as detecting jams or decreases in performance, and optimize itself in real time.

“We’ve shown a higher level of performance is achievable when the capabilities of AI are built in at the facility level,” Amp CEO Tim Stuart says. “Waste Connections’ adoption of facility-scale sortation is a milestone for the industry. This is a facility that delivers on the true potential of recycling, and we couldn’t be more delighted to be doing this with our Waste Connections partners.”