Can AI enhance business sustainability?

Business sustainability is more than a trend ―it’s an essential step companies should take to take responsibility for their waste. Considering we live in an era of capitalism and overconsumption, corporations have to keep up with changing consumer trends and needs, requiring continuous manufacturing, which leads to more than enough waste. 

For example, according to Statista, the EU generates about two million metric tonnes of waste annually, the majority of which is construction and mining waste. Municipal waste is also considerable, especially in Nordic countries. Unfortunately, EU countries face massive disparities concerning waste recycling, as only a few state members treat waste accordingly, whereas the rest, such as Romania and Bulgaria, still rely on landfills. 

Although we can say a considerable amount of waste results from poor behaviours, businesses fuel the consumerist culture by speeding up their manufacturing, affecting the environment, and boosting climate change. One of the most recent solutions to navigate the issue involves the use of artificial intelligence, so let’s see what it implies for companies. 

AI can improve recycling 

Recycling is the optimal way businesses can deal with waste. Through it, companies can mitigate their green initiatives and carbon footprints while addressing global warming. Therefore, recycling helps maximise profitability, decreases raw material costs, and can ensure new investment opportunities for business grants. 

However, depending on the regulations and awareness in your country, recycling can sometimes be challenging. That’s why AI can help, as it will handle repetitive activities through automated sorting. This could prevent contamination and, therefore, make recycling efficient, as well as predict maintenance needs. By using AI to recycle your company’s waste, you can focus on more critical aspects, like finding the most innovative machinery, such as XP300 and improving your practices. 

AI can ensure regulatory compliance at all times 

The recycling and sustainable sectors are continuously changing, meaning laws and regulations suffer modifications that businesses must adhere to as soon as possible to avoid financial penalties. Companies must be wary of local, regional, and national waste management guidelines to be up-to-date with the latest reporting requirements, and this can sometimes be time-consuming. 

Besides fines, organisations can also suffer from reputational damages, as customers expect the best services from those who claim to be concerned about climate change. With AI, your business will receive the latest updates about green regulations, ensuring you meet legal standards at all times and can commit to green practices without much effort. 

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AI can predict trends and product life cycles 

One of the best things that AI can do is make predictions based on available data. Thanks to machine learning technologies, AI learns from data and identifies patterns, making it eligible to deliver predictions. For example, based on social media posts can predict future sustainable trends and help you create products that sell. 

Besides being ahead of the competition, businesses can also better adopt the ways to a circular economy by leveraging AI for product life cycles. AI can help companies use manufacturing machinery longer by analysing its condition, which would mean saving costs and the environment. Usually, these objects are sold or thrown away when they’re ineffective, but since AI keeps an eye on them, you can lengthen their life through constant maintenance. 

AI can control and improve energy usage 

Energy waste is usually less talked about, as it seems like a never-ending asset. However, the demand for energy increases by the year in accordance with population, reaching no less than 180,000 TWh of oil, coal, and natural gas-based energy, according to the Energy Institute. Traditional biomass, wind, and nuclear power contribute less, but the percentage of renewable energy is seemingly increasing. 

If we want to slow down climate change, we must mind our energy consumption and switch to other renewable options, which can be done with the help of AI. Companies using AI-based software monitoring can better control their energy consumption as the technology analyses potential points of failure and automatically adapts the energy input. Sensors and various devices can be connected through IoT to offer the latest available info about energy usage or water consumption. 

AI can help in developing sustainable products 

Companies can also improve their recycling habits and management by creating better products that require less energy or materials but offer similar or even better features. AI can better design products that follow End-of-Life (EoL) principles, which concern things like finding out what happens after the product is discarded or accounting for the material used in accordance with environmental benefits.

Companies using AI to create better products that contribute to a circular economy only have to analyse the data from the software through which different sustainable designs are offered, as well as shipment options. At the same time, using more renewable materials in the development process benefits both the business and nature. 

AI can better control business operations 

Companies need to know what happens at their sites, an activity that can sometimes be difficult for human employees to perform. Not only is it time-consuming, but it can also be dangerous, which is why business reports might lack a thorough image of their own operations. 

That’s why AI-based technology is ideal for helping organisations in this matter. When introduced in drones, for example, which are packed with sensors, they can be game-changers. These technologies gather important information about pollution sources and the economic impacts of operations in the most inaccessible regions. Then, they form reports and offer potential solutions for business owners to be able to approach them. This is one of the best ways to ensure compliance, as you cover every aspect of your company’s waste. 

Have you considered using AI for enhanced sustainability? 

The rise of sustainability requires companies to leverage new and innovative products and services, as they must be up-to-date with the latest trends and compliance requirements. Luckily, as AI becomes more reliable by the year, companies can take advantage of its multilateral features and use it to analyse on-site information about their manufacturing processes, as well as control machinery and energy usage. 

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