SBIR-STTR Award

Zabble’s mission is to enable organizations to achieve zero waste by delivering an end-to-end waste analytics platform with real-time actionable insights. Our immediate focus is to create a zero waste blueprint for the healthcare industry followed by universities and corporations which make up 53% of the commercial buildings in the US. There are 6200 hospitals across the US generate up to 30 lbs of waste per patient per day, 6 times more than the national per capita average. This disposal of waste costs hospitals $10B every year of which $7B is in excess. According to interviews with 50+ Directors of Environmental Services and Sustainability managing over 150 hospitals, there is an urgent need for data tracking tools which provide insights to optimize their processes. Hospitals discard unused medical supplies into the waste stream ending up overspending on supplies that end up in landfills and incinerators. Improper disposal of waste results in municipal solid waste ending up in regulated medical waste streams costing hospitals 10x more in disposal costs. With COVID-19 the amount of waste per patient is higher from increased use of PPE and single-use disposables. The current solution involves conducting one-time waste audits that don’t capture the origin of waste within the facility or the relationship of waste with time. The other options include installing sensors on containers that monitor fullness and items that are not disposed of in bags. This solution fails at tracking granular contamination information of items in the bags and is logistically difficult to maintain when deployed in large numbers. We have developed a SaaS platform for hospitals to track their waste streams with AI and engage stakeholders by creating feedback loops to reduce excess disposal, reuse materials and send less waste to landfills. We currently work with large institutions like UCSF and The Recycling Partnership and with the help of a grant from the city of San Francisco, we have already proven that our methodology has reduced sending more than a 1000 tons to landfills within a year equivalent to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 14000 passenger cars driven for one year.

Zabble's mission is to help organizations achieve zero waste by delivering real-time actionable insights using an AI-enabled SaaS platform. Our immediate focus is to create a zero waste blueprint for the healthcare industry, followed by universities and corporate campuses. There are 6200 hospitals across the US generate 5.9M tons of waste annually, around 30 lbs. of waste per patient per day, 6 times more than the national per capita average. This disposal of waste costs hospitals $10B every year. According to American Hospital Association’s Sustainability Roadmap, hospitals can save over $4B annually on hauling costs alone by properly separating the waste at the source. In July 2022, over 650 hospitals have pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, with waste goals in place. However, they face an uphill challenge implementing strategies to achieve their waste goals. Current solutions involving waste audits, sensors and manual aggregation of waste data don’t provide granular data to effect measurable change. There is an urgent need for new types of measurements and tracking tools that provide granular insights to optimize processes and educate stakeholders. Zabble has developed a patented SaaS platform that uses AI to identify a bin’s fullness and contaminants from photos, recommends container right-sizing options by digitizing and analyzing invoices and engages stakeholders by creating feedback loops to streamline workflows and send less waste to landfills. Leading educational and health institutions and non-profits such as Stanford, The Recycling Partnership and UCSF use the Zabble Zero platform to track their progress to zero waste. In 2021, Zabble was recognized as one of the top 5 AI startups advancing the circular economy. In 2022, so far, our clients have measured more than 15,000 tons of materials and prevented more than 100 tons from going to landfills. During Phase I of the EPA SBIR Grant, Zabble implemented a novel feature to automatically detect and classify contaminants from an image using an AI model and notify users when certain contaminants are found. The overall goal in Phase II is to develop Zabble Zero into a command center for efficient waste and workflow management for organizations. Zabble will develop a fully functional solution by adding new features to the current prototype developed during Phase I that will help bring a holistic SaaS platform to market as an efficient low-cost option for the healthcare, education and corporate sectors.