UK recycling startup shines through making WSJ Best of CES 2021

An Australian invention being developed by a British based start-up has captured the attention of the world’s press at CES 2021 one of the largest and most influential consumer electronics and tech events billed as the “proving ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators". Normally held in Las Vegas, this year CES 2021 was on-line.

Lasso Loop Recycling Ltd (Lasso), based in London UK, is developing a revolutionary domestic recycling appliance which will allow people to close loop recycle in their homes - that means less litter and landfill because valuable used materials can be remade into new products of the same quality.

Competing against some of the world’s biggest brand names, including Samsung, Sony and Bosch, Lasso’s domestic recycling appliance appeared in the Best of CES 2021 lists in the Wall Street Journal, Wired magazine, The Smithsonian and Endgadget and has featured in Gizmodo and Digital Trends amongst other prominent outlets.

The brain child of Australian engineer and entrepreneur, Aldous Hicks, Lasso is in the final stages of developing a prototype for the appliance using cutting edge technology currently being developed in numerous engineering hubs all over the world including cutting edge material sensing technology being developed in London, UK and Brussels, Belgium and glass crushing technology being engineered in Herefordshire, UK.

The secret of the Lasso system is that it maintains the purity of used materials from the get-go by keeping them separate - for example green glass kept separate from clear glass, PET plastic (eg water bottles) separate from HDPE (eg cloudy milk bottle). This means valuable used packaging materials can be remade into new products of the same quality.

Lasso also provides added incentive to recycle by crediting customers with bottle deposit returns and potentially cash value for their products.

By delivering purity from the outset, Lasso bypasses the need for expensive, complicated and inefficient sorting and treatment processes that make current recycling systems unviable. The Lasso model maximises the value of used-materials and creates a recycling system that is financially and environmentally self-sustaining.

Material sensing technology is being developed in London, UK and Brussels, Belgium, washing and label removing technology in northern Italy and plastic granulator technology in Switzerland. Glass crushing technology is being developed in Hertfordshire, UK, metal shredding from Orange, Australia and electrics and electronics are being sourced and developed from Bristol, UK and Brussels, Belgium. Small high technology companies in Australian regional New South Wales (NSW) towns of Orange and Bathurst are manufacturing many of the Lasso prototype's first-of-their-kind components. The prototype will be assembled, tested and prepared for launching in Orange, NSW.

Lasso’s physical and working domestic recycling appliance prototype is scheduled for completion in Q1 this year. Then follows the Pilot Phase which will include the Lasso MVP which will have its trial roll-out to 100 homes in Silicon Valley on the US west coast in Q4 2022. The first full retail roll-out will follow in Q1 2023.