The quiet success
The expanded Portsmouth, Virginia facility is part of a $450 million, 20-year regional agreement with AMP Robotics: AI cameras and sorting systems give it annual capacity of 108,000 tons, while the contract guarantees that at least 50% of SPSA material will be diverted from landfill. The earlier Portsmouth pilot reported uptime above 90%. Too boring for headlines, too important to ignore.[1], [2], [3]
The explorer's note
AI's environmental ledger is always debated in terms of data center electricity — rightly so. But the equation has another side: waste sorting, grid optimization, materials discovery. Honest accounting counts both. This column will keep counting.[2], [4]