AI Predicts Dumpster Fires Before They Happen: The Smart Waste Revolution Saving Millions

Summary

Lead With AI

Episode: AI Predicts Dumpster Fires Before They Happen: The Smart Waste Revolution Saving Millions
Host: Dr. Tamara Nall
Guest: Sandeep Sankarani Kutty, VP of Operations at RTS Recycle Track Systems
Release Date: June 10, 2025

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Introduction: Revolutionizing Waste Management with AI

In this enlightening episode of Lead With AI, Dr. Tamara Nall engages in a compelling conversation with Sandeep Sankarani Kutty, the Vice President of Operations at RTS Recycle Track Systems. With over a decade of experience in launching tech-driven ventures across various industries, Sandeep brings invaluable insights into how AI is transforming the traditional waste management sector into a data-driven, efficient, and sustainable industry.

Company Origins and Vision

Sandeep begins by sharing the inception story of RTS Recycle Track Systems, highlighting his role as the company's first employee since its founding in 2015.

“[...] our goal was to really solve this problem of like electronic waste recycling and organics recycling and seeing how we can bring some transparency into that world.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [02:38]

He emphasizes the convergence of technology with real-world applications as the driving force behind RTS's mission to enhance transparency and efficiency in waste management.

AI-Powered Technologies Transforming Waste Management

The core of RTS's innovation lies in their integration of AI and IoT devices to monitor and manage waste effectively. Sandeep details their proprietary Pelo sensors, which are installed in large garbage bins to detect the type of waste and identify contamination.

“[...] we can tell like what sort of waste is going in there. Is there contamination? [...] we’re able to really optimize routing as well as educate folks on site.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [06:32]

These sensors enable RTS to gather actionable data, allowing for optimized waste collection routes, reduced truck emissions, and enhanced sustainability outcomes for their clients.

Real-World Applications and Customer Successes

RTS serves a diverse clientele, ranging from large sports stadiums to commercial real estate portfolios. Sandeep recounts the success story of partnering with Citi Field, where their technology increased diversion rates by 55%.

“When we started servicing them, we were able to increase their diversion rates by 55%. And so it's a lot of work that goes into it.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [19:29]

He elaborates on how their solutions not only manage waste more effectively but also engage communities, as seen with their cycle vending machines at sports venues that incentivize fans to recycle.

Ethical Considerations in AI Deployment

Addressing the ethical dimensions, Sandeep underscores the importance of maintaining a human-centric approach in AI applications within waste management.

“[...] waste management, it's a people business, it's a community business. There's someone at the end that's a stakeholder that really has an issue that needs to be serviced.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [15:30]

He stresses that AI should enhance transparency and efficiency without replacing essential human interactions, ensuring that the technology serves to benefit both businesses and communities.

Future Outlook: A Sustainable and Transparent Recycling Ecosystem

Looking ahead, Sandeep envisions a future where recycling becomes deeply ingrained in everyday life, driven by transparent data and proactive management.

“In 2030, what I see is us moving incrementally closer to a world where, you know, the realities of recycling become more tangible.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [17:51]

He anticipates that advancements in self-supervised learning will address current data challenges, further optimizing AI's role in creating a circular economy.

Engaging with RTS: Call to Action

Dr. Nall wraps up the discussion by encouraging listeners to experience RTS's innovations firsthand, particularly at sporting events like those at Citi Field.

“If you really want to feel it, I encourage that.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [19:25]

For those interested in implementing AI-powered waste management solutions, Sandeep provides contact information, inviting commercial inquiries via email and professional connections on LinkedIn.

Final Thoughts: The Human-AI Synergy

Sandeep concludes by reflecting on the inevitable complexity of AI models, expressing optimism that future tools will enhance our understanding and harness AI's potential for humanity's benefit.

“We're going to build tools that help us gain the insights into how the model is working. And people that are way more focused on this are working on this.”
— Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [21:28]

Rapid Fire Highlights

• Most Overrated Tech Trend: “VR. I mean I've tried it, it's great, it's a lot of fun. But I don't think anyone really wants to sit around with something covering their face for hours at a time.” — Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [21:35]

• Most Underrated AI Breakthrough: “Self-supervised learning [...] as that gets better, a lot of the data challenges that we face around AI will start to dissipate.” — Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [21:51]

• Book Recommendation: “Competing in the age of AI” – A must-read for understanding how traditional companies can transform by embracing AI.” — Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [22:13]

• Bold AI Prediction: “30% or more of the back end low hanging fruit office tasks are going to go to agentic systems. [...] it's a really positive thing to unlock the opportunity for people to spend time on things that really matter.” — Sandeep Sankarani Kutty [22:43]

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Conclusion: Leading with AI for a Sustainable Future

This episode of Lead With AI sheds light on how RTS Recycle Track Systems is at the forefront of integrating AI into waste management, driving significant environmental and operational impacts. Sandeep Sankarani Kutty's insights reveal a future where AI not only enhances efficiency but also fosters a more transparent and sustainable world. For listeners keen on pioneering AI-driven solutions in their industries, RTS offers a visionary model of what’s achievable when technology meets purposeful innovation.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

What if your waste strategy could be as data driven as your marketing plan? What if operations, sustainability and AI could all work together not just to clean up the planet, but to clean up inefficiencies across your business? Today on Lead with AI, I'm joined by Sandeep Sankarani Kutty, VP of Operations at RTS Recycle Track Systems. It's a company redefining what it means to manage waste in a digital world. With over a decade of experience launching tech driven ventures across finance, pharma and consumer industries, Sandeep brings a unique mix of operational depth and entrepreneurial drive. From real time pickup tracking to enterprise waste analytics, to finding out if contamination has hit your bin or. RTS isn't just hauling trash. It's building the infrastructure for a more circular economy, powered by data, AI and driven by purpose. If you care about innovation that's grounded in impact, this one's for you. Let's get into it.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Welcome to lead with AI. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall. In each episode, we will take you behind the scenes with visionary leaders shaping the future of AI across public and private sectors. Join us as we explore groundbreaking projects and innovations that are transforming industries and making a real impact on people's lives. Let's dive in.

Hi everyone, it is Dr. Tamara Nall. I am your host for Lee with AI podcast and, and I am so excited. Today we have Sandeep Sankarankati who is the VP of Operations of Recycle Track Systems. Hi, Sandeep, how are you?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Hi Tamara. Really excited to be here and thanks for having me on the show.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Absolutely. Let's get into it because Waste is involved with everyone. And so first of all though, tell us a little bit about yourself and who are you at your core. And you know, we believe that every great AI product starts with a deeper vision. So talk to us about the beginnings and who you are and the company.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah, happy to. It's been a really great story. I actually, I helped start the company, so I was employee number one.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh, wow.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

We helped start the company in 2015, so about 10 years old. And I've always been passionate about startups and it just so happens that, you know, when I was getting into and interested in startups, we were looking for things that were outside of social media and, you know, Internet startups and the iPhone was just coming to light as like a real viable tool. So imagine the world of like Uber starting to catch fire and people really adapting, like geolocation technology. So that's the world that we started the company in. And our goal was to really solve this problem of like electronic waste recycling and organics recycling and seeing how we can bring some transparency into that world. Because at this point, a lot of folks were talking about it, but the numbers just weren't adding up. So we decided to dive in, learn the industry, develop technology to support the businesses and the customers in addressing those needs.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

And while waste versus, you know, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions of things that you could have have started.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah, no, it's a good question. I think for us it was this combination of technology meeting the real world.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

That challenge was really fascinating to us. And then the other big aspect of this, whenever you're starting a company, you have to start thinking about how big is this market opportunity and how big is this space that I'm playing in. And then are the tides of legislation and society turning in that manner. And for us, the answers to that was, yes, there was an increase in sustainability goals and needs demanded by the public. Corporates were starting to really focus in on that. And then the market itself is something that, you know, was not necessarily they're open to technology, but it's still very much a people driven business. It's very community focused, community oriented. So understanding those sensitivities while applying a technical lens to it was like what really drew us in.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Got it. Okay. And then in terms of the history, the decade long history of the company, what's the jaw dropping moment when people first experience your product, which is powered by AI and realize, whoa, this changes everything.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah. I mean, there's been actually a few of it for us. Right. So from when we started the business and seeing our, our trucks, know, making their way around the city and picking up and collecting the organics, recycling and trash, and then making their way to the farms for to turn into compost, I thought that was something that, that level of transparency just didn't exist in the industry.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

At the customer level. So I think that was one of the things that really, like, we were very happy that we were able to, you know, set those, set that in motion. But our customers were also really happy because as these sustainability teams were being developed, they finally had full transparency into kind of what was happening end to end. So that was a really big win. And as the technology has advanced, like, we've continued to invest everywhere into other IoT devices. And this new wave of AI allows us, it enables us to connect our IoT devices into that holistic framework that we've created. So we have this device called a Pelo sensor, it gets installed in. In garbage bins. Not like the one in the back here, but something bigger. And we can tell, we can tell like what sort of waste is going in there. Is there contamination?

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh, wow.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Is there? Yeah. No, it's great. It is insights that no facilities managers or no sustainability teams have ever had before. But we're able to do a lot with that because it's all data. And because of the data that we gather, we're able to really optimize routing as well as educate folks on site on how to do this properly so they can really attain their sustainability goals. And then we round all of that out with really robust reporting that the teams can use. So it's been. It's been really great for us. And there's technology at every step of that process for us.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Amazing. And when you say that you have this Pello system is what type of customers are using this?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

It could be it's work. Commercial waste management business. Right. So we do have some residential as well, but it's our commercial customers that really care about it. You know, people often think about waste as something that just happens magically. And I did too.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

It's not anyone's fault, but it usually happens kind of early in the mornings, late at night. And people aren't really aware of the logistics that goes into transporting refuse across the city, especially in a large area, like. Like any of the urban areas. I'm in New York and DSNY has one of the largest fleets of trucks and budgets out of any city organization. But there's a reason we're servicing 8 million people. And so those are our customers. Our customers range from big sports stadiums that really want their fans to recycle. Citi Field, where the Mets play, we work with the Ravens and the Eagles. And so those customers have a fan engagement piece of it as well as sustainability goals. And we facilitate the fan engagement piece of recycling as well with our cycle vending machines, where you can actually take the cans and bottles that you're using at the stadium and go return them and you'll get a voucher to win free tickets or free merch. So it's a really great way to engage with your audience.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Got it. Now, let's say I'm listening to this podcast and I work in facilities for a large commercial company. Those that you've described have been around sports. Are there other industries that work well, or does it work best if we can have some kind of fan cult incentive programs? Or what if I'm just a large commercial construction site manager and have that. Can I. Would I work with you too?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

100%. Absolutely.

[Co-host]

Yeah.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Our other customers range from, you know, grocery chains to large franchises.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

You know, you know, the burger kings of the world. And they all have. We, we meet their needs at different levels.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

And so a lot of our large portfolio commercial customers, they could be commercial real estate portfolios as well. We're able to, we're able to distill and reduce the amount of effort that it takes for them to manage a portfolio of that size. That's like a really big superpower for us. We're able to do that in a way where they have access to all the data that they need to manage the sites. The people on the ground running the buildings are able to get their jobs done quicker because of the way they can communicate with us. And then on the back end, you know, we really facilitate that orchestration with all of the various haulers across the country. So we're not just talking about New York City here, we're talking about the entire US and Canada.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

So you can, you can have a portfolio of businesses and sites across North America and you can have a single point of contact at RTS to help help you manage that.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, great. Because I was going to ask that, I wanted to see whether or not it was outside of the New York State and tri state area. You clear that up. Thank you for that.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah, yeah, of course.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Now if I wanted to open up the hood and look at the brain of your technology, for instance, you said, you know, someone could put something in a bin and can, can sense that there's contamination. Like how does that work? How is this brain working?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

That's great. You know, I think there's a couple of things that happen. We have to, as like a waste management company, we, we have to shift with kind of the demands of our consumers and our customers. And so all the products and services that we roll out really adapt to that. And a really good example of that is as you've seen like the rise of Amazon or the rise of like working from home, you've seen kind of the way that people interact with their products, like change, and we have to adapt to that. So during the pandemic and even now, like you're going to, you see tremendous amounts of cardboard. And cardboard is one of these products that's highly recyclable. So we want to be able to, you know, educate people and capture that and take that out of the traditional waste stream because there's A real. There's a lot of value to it.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

And then. Yeah. And so, like, what we do is like the Pelo sensors, for example, like we use the Pellow sensors to, for commercial sites and we'll see if there's a bin that is like stuffed with cardboard. Then all of a sudden we see traditional waste go on top of it. That entire cardboard pile is now ruined. Right. And so it forces us to say, okay, well, you know, there needs to be some education that needs to happen here. Let's, you know, get, let's go down the chain, get some regional training. Let's educate our folks. And we always, and we always try to tie it back to like a business impact.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Like, hey, guys, like, if you're able to do this, you know, we may be able to reduce the number of pickups that you truly need again, like driving down truck emissions. Right. Unnecessary driving and all these small incentives and changes to the way you approach waste management really adds up.

[Co-host]

Right?

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay. All right, Amazing. And talk to me about, like a real world example. You started the company. It was, it was part of your idea, was an example of a benefit that a customer has received where you got chills. Like you jumped up, you did your victory dance. If you want to show us what that looks like, you can do that too. But where you were like, you know what? This is why I started this company. This is why I did it. Because of this type of impact. Give us something that we can touch, something tangible.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah. I think for me it really has to be that, like, end to end experience where as a customer, like, you get to experience that you just onboarded. Imagine just onboarded onto rts. We've installed all these sensors in your bins, and all of a sudden you run into maybe a hiccup. But you actually already. We're already aware of the hiccup.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Because of the cameras and sensors, whether it's a missed pickup or contamination or some sort of, you know, maybe it could even be a dumpster fire, a literal dumpster fire. And so we can get ahead of that. And that magic of, you know, opening up your inbox or getting a text from us saying, hey, we noticed that there's something wrong here and this is what's happening. We're going to take care of it. We're on it. We'll keep you updated. Like when that happened, that's the magic. You just go, wow. It went from a reactive industry where people like, wake up, look out, you know, look out the store and say, oh, my Trash hasn't been picked up or there's some issue into a proactive industry. And I think that's really powerful. It's a great customer experience. And it also is a great experience as someone that is managing our customers on our operations side. Right, right. Your day doesn't start out with stress. Your day is like proactive. And I understand how I'm going to help my customers.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay. That's amazing. Now, particularly when you think about the sensors, the cameras, contamination, ruined waste that could have been recycled. There is a lot of ethics that's involved with how that's set up, how that runs. Talk to us about how you deal with those ethical crossroads with the powerful tool that you're working with.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

As AI kind of becomes more ingrained in touching all the, I guess, like the transfer points for our IoT devices into our operations. Like, one of the things that we always keep in mind is that waste and waste management, it's a people business, it's a community business. There's someone at the end that's a stakeholder that really has an issue that needs to be serviced. So we always try to keep that in mind. And then on top of that is, I don't think we'll ever just replace communication with our customers with AI. Right. That's not the goal. The goal is to use AI to provide more transparency and allow us to do more with less.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Like, so we have more data, we can give you better reporting.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

We could do it faster. We can get your service needs met faster. And so keeping that sort of like mentality is really important to us. And then from the internal side, like keeping a human in the loop for all of these interactions also really matters. I spend a lot of time thinking about, you know, like low level, repetitive menial tasks.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yes.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Because like, deterministic is like the right word.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Like deterministic tasks where you can free up resources to do more strategic, more creative, more complex problem solving. And I think that's what really excites me.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Got it. Okay, perfect. Now let's think about the future. Let's say five years from now, 20, 30. What does the future powered by your tech, what does that feel like to the everyday person?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah. You know, I think about, when I think about this, I think about, you know, my kids. I think about them coming home from school and teaching and talking to me about the recycling lesson that they just did. And, you know, they're always like, papa. Like, you know, that's glass bottle and plastic. These are recyclables. And in, in 2030, what I see is us moving incrementally closer to a world where, you know, the realities of recycling become more tangible.

[Co-host]

Right.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Because even I think there was a New York Times article a couple of weeks ago that talks about how complicated that whole ecosystem is and how, like, we're still nowhere near where we want to be as a society. And so everyone has this perception in their mind that they're doing more with recycling than what's actually happening. We're hoping that with our technology, we create the transparency, we educate people, and we force the conversations, and then we can tie it to real business results. Which ideally is a win for everyone, right?

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yo, absolutely. Now, I always like to have a CTA and make us believers. So again, our listeners are here. Either they don't have a partner that they work with to recycle, etcetera, or they do, but they're not getting the type of benefits and kind of AI powered analysis that they need or analytics that they need. Talk to us about what's the one thing that that person who's like, I should try them out. What can they try build or explore this week to get a taste of your AI magic?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

I would say if you're a sports fan, especially get out of the house, go to a baseball game, especially if you're in New York, go to Citi Field, go check out our, our cycle machines, and then see, like, the work that we've done throughout the stadium, including signage, customizing bins. And then if you can get a sneak peek at the back where all the trash is collected, you'll see our.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Sensors and do that without getting arrested.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah, don't break any laws while doing it. But if you want to see that real, tangible feel like, think about a stadium of 30,000 people that are kind of being educated in recycling. And then for Citi Fuel specifically, when we started servicing them, we were able to increase their diversion rates by 55%. And so it's a lot of work that goes into it. So if you really want to feel it, I encourage that.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

And diversion rate. Explain that for us. For those of us who don't know.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Sure, yeah, sorry. Sometimes I get all caught up in jargon. Diversion rate is how much of the material that you're collecting at a site ends up at landfill or diverted away from landfill into recycling facilities and organic space.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Oh, 55. That's huge. That's amazing. That really, really makes a difference. That. That's amazing. So we talked about this before. I always have this one question, which I call from one genius to another. So our last guest has a question for you, Sandeep.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Sure.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

That question is, do you think we will ever get to a point where the people who are building AI models would not understand the models themselves?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

I think it's inevitable. I think everything that we're seeing, how fast we're progressing and the capabilities and building the model, it is inevitable. I mean, realistically, a lot of the models in the way they think today, people are not quite sure how they get to the answers. But I do have a more hopeful view of this, which is as we adapt and advance our model creation and capabilities, we're also going to build tools that help us gain the insights into how the model is working. And people that are way more focused on this are working on this. And I truly believe like we're going to be able to, you know, harness the power of AI in a way that benefits humanity.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Amazing. Okay, so bonus rapid fire most overrated tech trend.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

It has to be VR. It has to be VR. I mean I've tried it, it's great, it's a lot of fun. But I don't think anyone really wants to sit around with something covering their face for hours at a time.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay. Most under hyped AI breakthrough.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

I don't know if this is a breakthrough anymore, but it has to be like the self supervised learning like using where people are really focused on cleaning large unlabeled data sets. I think as that gets better, a lot of the data challenges that we face around AI will start to dissipate.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, perfect. One book everyone should read on the future.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

I spent a lot of time thinking about business and so the book for me is like Competing in the age of AI.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

It's a really great book for you to kind of like dig into what it means to be a company that's at the forefront of AI and how traditional companies may have blind spots because they're set in their legacy ways and really there is a significant transformation happening.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, the boldest AI prediction you believe.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

A lot of people have said this, and I do believe it because I spent a lot of time thinking about it, is that like 30% or more of the back end low hanging fruit office tasks are going to go to agentic systems. And I don't think about that as a bad thing. I think about that as like a really positive thing to unlock, you know, the opportunity for people to, you know, spend time on things that really matter, not just to you personally, but professionally and the business. I think, you know, if you Extrapolate that out a bit. You're kind of at the point where it doesn't matter at what rung of the hierarchy you are. You have to kind of take ownership for your own career and can and keep kind of finding value and pushing it forward.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Okay, love that. So I really enjoy this conversation, particularly knowing that the world is a safer place because you'll let us know if anything around me is contaminated. Yeah, I really appreciate that, particularly as much as I travel and all these commercial buildings and sites that I have to go to. So that's good. But how can we get in contact with you if we're talk, if we're thinking about changing our vendor, implementing and finding a recycle partner, how can we get in contact with you?

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Yeah, I mean you can email [e-mail] if you want commercial interest or if there's commercial needs that we can support you with. And then if you want to get in touch with me personally, LinkedIn is always a great source. You just search for my last name. I don't believe there are too many Sankaran kitties.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Yes, absolutely. S A N K A R A A N K U T T Y Yep, that's it. Sandeep, thank you so much for this conversation. I love it. I love when we're taking traditional, what some people would figure out like old industries and making them anew. And what you and the team are doing is absolutely phenomenal. So thank you so much.

[Sandeep Sankarani Kutty]

Thank you so much. Really appreciated it. I love the conversation. Thanks Dr. Noel.

[Dr. Tamara Nall]

Absolutely.

Thanks for tuning in to lead with AI. I'll see you next time as we continue exploring the cutting edge innovations shaping AI across the public and private sectors. Until then, keep leading with AI.