Waste intelligence firm Greyparrot estimates that more than USD 1 billion worth of aluminium cans are sent to landfill in the United States each year, with around 11 million MWh of energy wasted in the process. The company puts the 2023 US can recycling rate at about 43 percent, with 61 billion of 107 billion cans shipped that year not recovered, even as the country sourced USD 26.5 billion of aluminium imports in 2025.
Why this mattersLow US can recovery keeps the country reliant on imported primary aluminium, raising feedstock costs and carbon intensity for can makers and brand owners.
- US aluminium can recycling rate stood at about 43 percent in 2023, Greyparrot says.
- 61 billion of 107 billion cans shipped in the US in 2023 ended up in landfill.
- Landfilled cans represent more than USD 1 billion in value and around 11 million MWh of wasted energy annually.
- US aluminium imports totalled USD 26.5 billion in 2025, with net imports covering around 60 percent of domestic supply.
- Recycled aluminium requires about 95.5 percent less energy than primary production, per Greyparrot.
- European aluminium beverage can recycling reached a record 76 percent in countries with deposit return systems, against 43 percent in the US
- Greyparrot's Analyzer cameras at Circular Services' Sunset Park facility recover 89 percent of incoming aluminium, about 91,000 cans a day or 33m a year
Circular Services is scaling up a pilot of Greyparrot's Analyzer AI camera-sorting software at its Sunset Park materials recovery facility in Brooklyn, first installed in the first quarter of 2026. Greyparrot's monitoring found 89% of aluminium passing through the site is recoverable, equivalent to about 91,000 cans a day. The two companies plan joint projects this autumn that could extend the technology across Circular Services' 38-facility network.
Why this mattersAI-based sorting could lift aluminium can recovery rates from decades-low levels, improving feedstock supply for can makers reliant on recycled metal.
- Circular Services installed Greyparrot's Analyzer AI at its Sunset Park MRF in Brooklyn in Q1 2026, its first such deployment.
- Greyparrot's monitoring found 89% of aluminium at the facility is recoverable, about 91,000 cans per day.
- Circular Services operates a portfolio of 38 MRFs; the pilot could expand across the network.
- Greyparrot raised a $27m Series B round in July 2026 led by investor Omar Mir.
- Greyparrot says its systems have identified over $2.5bn in recoverable value across client MRFs as of July 2026.
- Greyparrot's Analyzer AI at Sunset Park uses cameras and computer vision to monitor recyclable material streams for aluminium can recovery.
Greyparrot has launched a live AI-based dashboard that tracks overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) at materials and plastics recovery facilities, combining equipment availability, throughput and output quality into a single continuously updated score. The tool is intended to let operators identify and act on losses during a shift rather than reconstructing causes afterwards from separate records. It extends the company's Facility Dashboard, launched in May 2024.
Why this mattersReal-time OEE data lets recovery facilities cut material losses and defend recyclate quality, tightening the supply of recycled feedstock for packaging producers.
- Greyparrot launched the dashboard on 16 September 2026, tracking overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) at materials and plastics recovery facilities
- OEE combines running time, throughput versus design capacity and output quality into a single continuously updated score
- The system uses continuous material composition data instead of weighbridge tickets, downtime logs and periodic bale audits assembled after a shift
- It identifies unplanned stoppages, empty-running conveyors and throughput bottlenecks by line and shift
- The launch follows Greyparrot's Facility Dashboard, announced in May 2024, which tracked sorting performance from conveyor belt data
- Biffa's operational support manager for recycling, Ian McSpirit, is quoted on the product
- Greyparrot says manual sampling typically covers less than 1% of material at recovery facilities.
- Greyparrot says manual OEE logs have overstated the true figure by 8 to 15 percentage points.
- Greyparrot describes the dashboard as patent-pending.
