Business Talk Artificial Intelligence : AMP's Tim Stuart: The human factor makes or breaks AI in waste management

Your transition from Republic Services to AMP gives you a unique dual perspective. How does the technology provider vs. operator viewpoint change your approach to workforce considerations?
AMP designs, builds, and operates advanced, full-scale facilities for our partners. We’re more than a technology provider at this stage – we’re an operator ourselves, and our technology supports upskilling, using AI to improve and not displace frontline workers.

Moreover, safety is paramount whether you’re a technology provider or an operator. The minimisation of manual sorting in our facilities is a clear indicator of how we prioritise safety when we think about our workforce.

What did you learn at Republic Services about the human factors that make or break AI implementations that now influence AMP's approach?
In my time in the industry, I’ve learned that technology implementations are successful when the customer understands how the solution they’re adopting makes their lives easier. You have to make the technology integral to operations, not a nice-to-have. The maintenance requirements of our flagship robotics system aren’t onerous, but we saw a range of outcomes based on how closely customers adhered to recommendations for changing spare parts and similar upkeep.

That experience informed AMP’s current business model, where we now operate and maintain our systems for our customers for a per-ton processing fee. Customers can focus on material flows, while AMP manages daily operations, maintenance, upgrades, and plantwide optimisation. By operating and maintaining the system, we can make performance commitments and offer competitive pricing, often below customers’ internal cost to operate.

>>> AI’s human challenge

How do you help waste management companies develop internal champions for AI adoption among their existing workforce?
Unlike most waste processing facilities, in which the workforce is concentrated in manual sorting roles, our solution relies on production operators who will have the opportunity to learn how to optimize the technology and automated systems they manage. These are often skilled roles that can rely on programming knowledge, mechanics, engineering, data science, and other competencies. Our experienced operations team also seeks to upskill and promote from within where possible, providing employees with the opportunity to move from direct labor to management, or even into regional roles. In that sense, our next-generation facilities will build numerous transferable skills among local workforces.

AMP works with numerous facilities. What patterns do you see in successful vs. unsuccessful workforce integration approaches?
As AMP has moved from retrofitting existing recycling infrastructure to designing and deploying greenfield, facility-scale solutions, a common theme has been the upskilling opportunities and development of transferable skills that advanced technology can generate. Companies that approach the adoption of advanced technology with an openness and intentional plan for workforce integration tend to be most successful.

How do you address the "black box" concern where workers feel disconnected from AI decision-making processes?
As mentioned, we don’t see our technology as a replacement for humans in waste management or recycling operations—just in dangerous and hard-to-fill sorting roles. For many of our customers, the addition of robots and other AI-powered solutions has allowed them to shift staff to higher-skilled positions with the facility—roles in maintenance, as equipment operators, or route drivers. Liberation from tedious, repetitive tasks frees up time to focus on other value-added activities within these settings.

>>> Greyparrot's Gaspard Duthilleul: Why AI in waste management means upskilling, not downsizing  

What role should technology companies play in supporting their customers' workforce development efforts?
One role companies can play is in helping to define success and deliver training and resources that empower customers to become long-term champions of the technology. Developing a hands-on training program to support customers through the full lifecycle of the technology is something AMP’s done with one of our largest customers. Now that we’re operating customers’ facilities on their behalf through our sortation-as-a-service model, we’ve internalised workforce development. We take the same approach to our own employees’ upskilling as we do with our customers.

From your operator experience, what aspects of AI implementation do technology companies often underestimate from a human factors perspective?
It’s critical to clearly communicate the “why” in an AI implementation – what it aims to accomplish and how the technology changes processes and workflows. There’s a risk of sowing confusion, resistance, and mistrust if an implementation isn’t grounded in a human-centric vision or framed as a tool that augments human expertise.

How do you help companies maintain operational continuity and institutional knowledge during the transition to AI-assisted operations?
By taking on operations and maintenance for our customers, we free them up to focus on their core business activities. Reliance on manual labour for sortation has long held back the recycling industry. These are difficult and dangerous jobs, and recycling facilities experience high turnover and are chronically understaffed. Plus, commodity cycles lead to businesses varying their staffing levels; consistency at the facility and commodity level creates staffing stability. Labour is the highest cost for recyclers in an industry with tight profit margins, but AI and automation can help bring down costs and make businesses more economically viable. We deliver high-efficiency sortation without the inconsistency and staffing headaches associated with manual sorters.

>>> Jaipur Robotics' Ermes Zamboni: AI should enhance operators, not replace them