The Southeastern Public Service Authority of Virginia (SPSA), the regional waste authority for South Hampton Roads, has signed a 20-year contract with Commonwealth Sortation LLC, an affiliate of AMP Robotics Corporation, to provide solid waste processing services for SPSA鈥檚 eight member communities and their 1.2 million residents.
Building on a nearly two-year pilot project in Portsmouth鈥攚hich featured an AMP ONE鈩� system capable of processing up to 150 tons of locally sourced municipal solid waste (MSW) per day鈥擜MP will now scale its technology region-wide. Under this long-term partnership, which will facilitate the largest recycling project in the country, AMP will deploy additional MSW sortation lines and an organics management system capable of processing 540,000 tons annually to divert half of the waste SPSA brings to AMP facilities.
AMP鈥檚 AI-based sorting technology uses cameras, robotics, and pneumatic jets to detect and remove recyclables and organics from bagged trash. With AMP鈥檚 solution, SPSA can:
- Extend the life of its landfill;
- Decrease long-term collection and disposal costs for communities; and
- Adapt to evolving community needs, including organic waste management, to better support a growing, thriving region.
Dennis Bagley, executive director of SPSA, said, 鈥淭his project will enable us to improve how we manage waste from the communities we serve, turning all 1.2 million residents into active recyclers, while doubling the life of our landfill. This technology is demonstrating that there are effective ways to recover valuable resources from the trash, and we’re proud to be on the cutting edge of providing high-quality and transparent waste management services.鈥�
Partnering with AMP guarantees the region will recycle 20% of its waste鈥攎ore than double the recycling rate of the highest-performing community in the region鈥攚hile eliminating the need for separate recycling facilities and trucks to process most recyclables. SPSA鈥檚 own waste characterization studyfound high rates of recyclables, mainly plastics and metals, in the Hampton Roads waste stream鈥攅ven in communities with curbside recycling.
Tim Stuart, CEO of AMP, said, 鈥淩ecycling rates have been stuck for both communities and the nation at large for the last decade and a half. Projects like this one offer a new model for recycling, one that鈥檚 better aligned with local waste infrastructure. Our approach to processing MSW will significantly reduce the volume of waste SPSA must landfill, enable the creation of useful end products, and do so with meaningfully lower emissions levels than those resulting from competing solutions. At the end of the day, it is a win-win for all involved, and will serve as a model for other communities seeking to adopt more sustainable waste management practices.鈥�
AMP will leverage two sortation facilities in Portsmouth to extract recyclables (plastics, metals, and fiber) and聽 organics, while collaborating with SPSA to dispose of the residuals. A third facility, adjacent to a sortation facility on Victory Boulevard, will transform the captured organics via indirect heating into biochar, a charcoal-like substance that sequesters carbon.
By creating processing capacity at multiple sites instead of centralizing at one location, SPSA gains operational resilience, reducing downtime risk and ensuring reliable landfill diversion. Beyond extending the life of SPSA鈥檚 landfill, each diverted ton of MSW reduces or sequesters more than 0.7 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases鈥攅quating to more than 378,000 tons of carbon dioxide avoided or removed annually across SPSA鈥檚 processable waste鈥攔oughly the same as taking more than 88,000 cars off the road for a year.
AMP, which is backed by investors including Sequoia Capital, Congruent Ventures, XN, Blue Earth Capital, California State Teachers鈥� Retirement System (CalSTRS), and Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, expects to create approximately 100 jobs and build numerous transferable skills in the local workforce. Unlike legacy waste processing facilities where the workforce is concentrated in manual sorting roles, AMP鈥檚 solution relies on production operators who have the opportunity to learn how to optimize the technology and automated systems they manage.