{"id":206114,"date":"2025-12-29T04:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/206114\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T04:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T04:10:13","slug":"startup-makes-game-changing-breakthrough-that-could-transform-what-happens-to-common-waste-brings-new-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/206114\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup makes game-changing breakthrough that could transform what happens to common waste: &#8216;Brings new life&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Aluminum is a powerful material that&#8217;s easy to recycle, and one startup is dedicated to making the process more efficient.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Indiana-based tech company Sortera will soon open a new facility in Tennessee, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/11\/20\/sortera-is-turning-americas-scrap-aluminum-problem-into-cash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:TechCrunch;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">TechCrunch<\/a>. The company recently secured $45 million in funding for the expansion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Sortera has been upcycling metal waste into material that&#8217;s usable for new manufacturing since 2023. It uses artificial intelligence and advanced sensors to sort mixed aluminum scrap and &#8220;brings new life to old metal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;Creating novel high purity recycled (and upcycled) metal feedstocks from existing scrap streams enables the domestic supply of metals and alloys ready for use for high-quality domestic manufacturing, boosting the strength of the circular economy,&#8221; Sortera says on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sorteratechnologies.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:website;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Its process is able to sort aluminum scrap very quickly and with over 95% accuracy. It also does not have to melt the aluminum first, which is commonly done by other recycling plants, saving even more time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;People have been wanting to go after [this], and nobody&#8217;s been able to unlock it,&#8221; said Michael Siemer, CEO of Sortera, per TechCrunch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Most of the aluminum the company processes comes from old cars, and more auto manufacturers are starting to use recycled metal for building new cars. Aluminum can be infinitely recycled, so it&#8217;s important that we have simple systems in place to make this a reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Recycling and upcycling manufacturing waste have massive potential for helping the environment and cutting down on pollution. But unfortunately, the industry doesn&#8217;t have enough attention and funding dedicated to making these sustainable changes. Sortera is hoping to change that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">&#8220;This expansion allows us to significantly increase our capacity and establish a presence closer to many of our key customers\u2014particularly in the automotive sector \u2014 further streamlining supply chains and enhancing our service capabilities,&#8221; Siemer said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sorteratechnologies.com\/sortera-scales-solution-to-the-mixed-aluminum-problem-with-45-million-in-funding-and-new-tennessee-facility\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:press release;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2 charcoal-color\">Do you always recycle your aluminum cans?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2 charcoal-color\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/guide.thecooldown.com\/recording-votes\/do-you-always-recycle-your-aluminum-cans\/?answer=1&amp;article=recD87ThhngqVsE78\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Definitely;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">  Definitely <\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2 charcoal-color\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/guide.thecooldown.com\/recording-votes\/do-you-always-recycle-your-aluminum-cans\/?answer=2&amp;article=recD87ThhngqVsE78\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Only when I&#039;m at home;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">  Only when I&#8217;m at home <\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2 charcoal-color\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/guide.thecooldown.com\/recording-votes\/do-you-always-recycle-your-aluminum-cans\/?answer=3&amp;article=recD87ThhngqVsE78\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Only some of the time;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">  Only some of the time <\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2 charcoal-color\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/guide.thecooldown.com\/recording-votes\/do-you-always-recycle-your-aluminum-cans\/?answer=4&amp;article=recD87ThhngqVsE78\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Never;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">  Never <\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 mr-2 charcoal-color\">Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Get TCD&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/newsletter\/?utm_source=recD87ThhngqVsE78\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:free newsletters;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices \u2014 and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD&#8217;s exclusive <a href=\"https:\/\/links.thecooldown.com\/rewards-club\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Rewards Club;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Rewards Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aluminum is a powerful material that&#8217;s easy to recycle, and one startup is dedicated to making the process&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[125848,15470,273,125850,111,139,69,125849,147,38907],"class_list":{"0":"post-206114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-aluminum-scrap","9":"tag-circular-economy","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-michael-siemer","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-recycled-metal","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-techcrunch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}