Free Solution to Reduce Plastic Waste

Free Solution to Reduce Plastic Waste

Onstage during the Smart City Expo Miami, South Florida’s premier smart cities conference, Michael Lake, President and CEO of Leading Cities, challenged city and industry leaders to move from rhetoric to action in dealing with growing rates of plastic waste. To support this effort, Leading Cities launched an open call for the next edition of AcceliGOV applications. AcceliGOV is a global opportunity for local governments and private companies to apply for free sustainability and resiliency pilot projects. This edition offers multiple prepaid pilots that increase plastic recycling while reducing waste collection costs.

Out of the three hundred million tons of plastic waste sent into recycling bins and facilities each year, less than 10% of it is recycled. As a result, over 90% of plastic waste worldwide is getting dumped into landfills, continuing to pollute our planet, and harming the countries which have become the largest plastic waste dumping grounds.

Not only do they destroy environmental habitats, but landfills also produce dangerous gases such as methane. A potent greenhouse gas. Freight and haulage emissions pollute the air and water, increasing premature death rates in surrounding communities. Leading Cities, a global non-profit organization that drives resilience and sustainability in communities around the world, opened applications for local governments and private industry organizations to apply for a no-cost pilot project. Automedi’s circularity-as-as-a-solution pilot will reduce the amount of unrecycled plastics by creating an immediate circular recycling economy that not only repurposes plastic waste into necessary objects obtained through their 3D printing vending machines, but it also saves up to 98% of the emissions the first time it recycles and delivers these products cheaper. These products are built unique to the needs of the community by Automedi for a custom solution.

Open to deploying in any municipality, school, hospital, restaurant, and any industry needing to generate necessary products,  AcceliGOV is accepting applications until February 15^th. Separate pilots for municipal governments and private industry worth $100,000 will be awarded. These innovative solutions are provided by Automedi, the 2022 QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge grand prize winner, a global competition hosted by Leading Cities in partnership with QBE North America.

“Plastic recycling programs area complete failure for our communities and our planet. Automedi provides communities with the direct opportunity to transform their plastic waste into purposeful valuable products and tools for people to use and benefit from,” said Michael Lake, President and CEO of Leading Cities. “With so much talk about the benefits of a circular economy, these prepaid pilots offer recipients a tangible installation of a truly circular system converting rhetoric into action.”

By turning plastic waste into needed products, it is the first of its kind: a unified, distributed circular economy. The plastic waste is turned into filament which is then used as a consumable inside their own distributed 3D printing vending machines. Automedi’s platform is highly configurable and can be tailored to fit any requirement for plastic recycling and more specific treatment for industry processes.

Automedi was chosen from more than 550 solutions worldwide by a distinguished panel of AcceliCITY Resilience finalist judges that have included representatives from the World Economic Forum, United Nations, Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, National League of Cities, Code for America, QBE Ventures, and QBE North America.

AcceliGOV serves to deploy some of the world’s most innovative and impactful solutions in communities of all sizes and locations around the globe. The QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge, which vets these solutions, has quickly become one of the top three Govtech accelerators in the world and has demonstrated tremendous impact. AcceliCITY alumni have already raised more than $648 million and cities around the world have gained access to innovative solutions sourced globally and vetted by international experts.

To apply for a free pilot of the local plastic recycling machines, visit www.AcceliGOV.com before the February 15, 2023 deadline.