The startup using AI and blockchain to trace plastic recycling

Chilean company StatKnows is the creator of Recyclame (Recycle Me), a platform that uses artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to cross check bar code information from plastic bottles so that the passage of bottles through the entire value chain can be managed.

StatKnows is a Chilean startup that uses applied artificial intelligence and statistics to create smart systems for predictive modeling. This year they designed Recyclame (Recycle me), a service that traces recyclable plastic using blockchain technology. Their initiative resulted in StatKnows being among the start-ups selected in “The Plastic Evolution” innovation competition.

Following a spell working on the development of the sample inference engine for the Google Marketing Platform in California back in 2015, statistics engineer José Antonio Ruette partnered with Gonzalo Sánchez to create StatKnows in Chile with the Latin American market in their sights. Every year since then they have succeeded in doubling their sales, tripling them in 2020.

Global Services from Chile

StatKnows and their Recyclame app have now been selected from among 50 start-ups from 15 different countries in the “The Plastic Evolution” competition organized by the Chilean Plastics Pact, ChileGlobal Ventures and Fundación Chile.

"We have a minimum viable product that scans the barcodes on plastic bottles and cross-checks information to tell you what the content of the plastic is," explains Ruette, StatKnows co-founder and chief technology officer.

Recyclame uses blockchain technology to cross reference the bar code information so that, with the help of artificial technology, the entire value chain can be efficiently managed, achieving traceability at the user level that did not exist until now.

The company, one of the six winning start-ups, has been able to connect with stakeholders in the plastics industry. Ruette says the company wants to continue to work in this field, in order to "deliver a significant solution", as Recyclame is the first step towards achieving accurate traceability.

"It can be used to create a market that will generate a lot of value economically and also great value in terms of sustainable processes and the circular economy. We believe that we will be able to generate many more solutions from the information we gather from algorithmic learning and predictive modeling," says Ruette.

International partners and global scale

StatKnows has developed management systems for state-owned copper company Codelco and has carried out studies with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), financed by Euroclima. Currently, they have clients in Central and South America, Europe and Oceania and have plans to expand to southern Africa. 

"From the beginning, our solution for plastics was created with an international perspective in mind, so as to have a global reach," says Ruette.

Ruette notes that conversations are already in progress in order to start incorporating Recyclame this year.

"We already have a minimum viable product that we presented in ‘The Plastic Evolution’ competition, and we are in conversations with different stakeholders with a view to working together. The idea is that this will be collaborative project between all the key players in the Chilean Plastics Pact as well as other stakeholders in Latin America," he says.

To learn more about recycling in Chile and business opportunities in the technology sector, check out the following article.

Source: Diario Financiero