USA: rStream and Gillette Stadium Partner on Waste
Automated sorting at the point-of-collection helps advance waste diversion, operational efficiency, and sustainability after matches, concerts and other events.
According to rStream, through the company’s partnership with Gillette Stadium, its AI-powered sorting system is processing the stadium’s full waste stream on-site, separating recyclables, compostable materials, and trash with approximately 99 percent accuracy. The partnership also supports Gillette Stadium’s “ongoing commitment to operational excellence and sustainability by transforming one of the most labor-intensive behind-the-scenes operations into a more efficient, data-driven process”.
Large, high-traffic venues generate tons of mixed waste during a single event, much of which has traditionally been sorted manually after guests leave. “The process is labor-intensive, physically demanding, and often limits how much material can ultimately be recycled or composted,” the company, founded in 2021 out of research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, underlined. “At Gillette Stadium, rStream’s system automates that process by moving waste across conveyor belts where AI-powered cameras identify materials and precision sorting actuators separate them into recycling, compost, and trash streams within 24 hours of each event. Recyclable and organic materials are recovered, and the remaining post-sorted waste is sent to waste-to-energy facilities.”
By mid-July 2026, rStream sorted out 479,000 individual recyclable objects across seven full-stadium events, the information said.
(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 3/2026, Page 17, Photo: rStream)
