Smarter Sorting and Feeding America Launch Data-Sharing Technology to Help Retailers
Smarter Sorting and Feeding America Launch New Data-Sharing Technology to Help Retailers Reduce Food and Packaged Goods Waste
Smarter Sorting and Feeding America® provide retailers with a real-time data connection with food banks to reduce food and consumer goods going to waste when they could easily be donated
AUSTIN, Texas and BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Smarter Sorting, a consumer goods data and sustainability company, today announced an integration with Feeding America's MealConnect platform to help retailers reduce food waste and donate more to hunger-relief organizations. Smarter Sorting helps retailers handle products with data intelligence — from the shelf to the back of the store, and then distributed as donations to local food banks within the Feeding America network. Retailers can now send instantaneous, automated updates about donation packages. The data-led work ensures better accuracy, visibility, and product lifecycle planning for retail donors and food banks.
The Smarter Sorting and Feeding America partnership is a testament to the ways technology and forward-thinking individuals have the power to affect real, positive change. Costco, a partner of Feeding America, helped pilot the new service. This integration for Costco not only provides actionable, real-time data to food banks, but it also closely aligns with their initiatives to be a supportive arm to the local communities where their employees and members live and work. Furthermore, this integration helps Costco's sustainability goals, specifically their work to divert 80% of their waste.
"Food and consumer goods that could be donated go to waste because there has been no real-time visibility into what is available and where it's located. Retailers and food banks need a better way to understand what donations are ready for pick up to ensure perfectly good products that can't be sold find their way to people who need them the most," says Jacqueline Claudia, CEO of Smarter Sorting. "Our real-time API connection with Feeding America breaks the mindset that it's hard to scale donations and reduce waste without disrupting normal operations."
Tony Pupillo, senior director at Feeding America, says, "Retail donations are Feeding America's largest donation source, recovering over 1.67 billion meals from retail locations in 2021. It might seem like a no-brainer that unused, edible food and essential household items from retailers could be recovered by food pantries, but unfortunately, numerous barriers can make the process inefficient and cumbersome. Offering a glimpse into what items are available prior to a donation pickup creates a more seamless donation pickup and operation overall. Now, with Smarter Sorting's API integration with Feeding America's MealConnect Platform, retailers enjoy a more seamless opportunity to give back and combat waste."
Food recovery has historically faced logistical challenges that have made communication and reporting between retailers and food pantries highly complicated. Smarter Sorting's work with 24 national big-box retailers, such as Costco, offers a solution for retailers to make significant contributions to a global food waste problem without slowing down existing operational procedures and rewarding community donations with new efficiencies.
The Food Sourcing Compliance Officer, Linda Golebiewski, of God's Pantry Food Bank in Lexington, Kentucky, says, "The ability to know four pallets of potatoes are going to be donated allows us to prepare the cook at the soup kitchen in advance of setting a menu. What Smarter Sorting and Feeding America have done has changed the way we do meal planning, engage with our community partners, and impact our communities overall."
About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 6.6 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
About Smarter Sorting
Based in Boulder, Colo., Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles, Smarter Sorting helps companies make, market and move consumer products better. Its customers include national discount club stores and supermarkets, as well as the brands they sell. The company's customers use its Product Intelligence Platform to gain product insights and identify how to best handle regulated consumer products across the supply chain to remain compliant, avoid fines and reduce their environmental impact. The company has been honored with awards for innovation, impact and employee experience including: Fast Company's World Changing Ideas and Most Innovative Companies, Built In's Best Place to Work, as well as a Real Leader Impact Award and the SEAL Sustainable Innovation Award. Smarter Sorting is an Unreasonable Impact company. www.smartersorting.com
About God's Pantry Food Bank
The mission of God's Pantry Food Bank is to reduce hunger by working together to feed Kentucky communities. Working through more than 450 food pantries and meal programs the Food Bank serves 50 counties across Central and Eastern Kentucky. God's Pantry Food Bank distributed nearly 41.8 million pounds of food to many of the more than 250,000 neighbors facing food insecurity, including nearly 13 million pounds of fresh produce in fiscal year 2021. For more information, visit us at www.godspantryfoodbank.org.
Media Contact:
The news team: press@smarterx.com
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Smarter Sorting Rebrands as SmarterX, a Data Platform Helping 1,700+ Clients Across Retail and Consumer Goods
BOULDER, COLO., February 16, 2023 – Smarter Sorting, a leader in using data to transform retail operations from compliance to sustainability, today announced the rebranding of Smarter Sorting to SmarterXTM.
SmarterXTM is a retail and consumer goods data company that provides product intelligence, regulatory classifications, and decisioning to retailers, consumer goods companies and the logistics industry. The product intelligence provided by SmarterX helps its clients make, move and market products in the most compliant, efficient, and sustainable ways possible.
The company’s rebrand and new name follows a year of 3X growth. In 2022, the company added new clients from the retail and consumer goods industries, as well as developing new integrations with retail inventory software and non-profits such as Feeding America. At the same time, SmarterX has relocated its headquarters to Boulder, Colorado, a city known as a magnet for technology companies and sustainability entrepreneurs.
“We’re proud of our roots and we’re passionate about our evolution.” said Jacqueline Claudia, CEO of SmarterXTM. “From the start, we focused on helping companies and organizations comply with environmental regulations. Today, we’re achieving our early vision for the company to not only power better waste diversion but also help our clients and their partners, up and down the supply chain, be more efficient and more sustainable.”
New APIs, including SmarterX’s unique Back of Store Solution (BOSSTM) APIs, are helping retailers be more sustainable while reducing costs. Moreover, the company’s ability to send valuable data such as fast, accurate shipping classifications is helping companies make better choices when it comes to ecommerce, environmental impact, and supply chain automation.
Dave Andre who recently joined SmarterX as Chief Product and Technology Officer - and has extensive experience including Group CTO at Trustly and Founder & CEO at Cartera - noted that, “The new name, SmarterX, is fitting for a company that helps retailers, brands and supply chain partners in many unique ways make accurate real-time decisions for more sustainable and profitable business.”
He went on to add, “Our extensive product data, including chemical formulation, computational chemistry analytics, and detailed rules engine, powers the many ways we’re helping our clients. From transportation to storage and from verifying ingredient-free claims to ensuring returns are sustainably handled, SmarterX enables enterprises to make mission-critical product handling decisions that are good for business and the planet.”
About SmarterX
Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, SmarterX™, formerly known as Smarter Sorting, helps companies make better decisions to make, market, and move consumer products. Its customers include the world’s biggest CPG brands, leading warehouse clubs, big box retail, and national grocery chains. The company’s customers use its Product Intelligence Platform™ to gain product insights and identify how to best handle consumer products across the supply chain, to remain compliant, avoid fines, and reduce their environmental impact. The company has won awards for innovation and impact, including Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas and Most Innovative Companies, BuiltIn’s Best Place to Work, as well as a Real Leader Impact Award and the SEAL Sustainable Innovation Award. Smarter Sorting is an Unreasonable Impact company. Learn more at smarterx.com.
Media Contact:
Natalie Rizk, SmarterX
press@smarterx.com
Winner in the 2022 Real Leaders Eco Innovation Awards for Environmental Impact
AUSTIN, Texas and BOULDER, Colo., July 6, 2022 – Smarter Sorting (www.smartersorting.com), a consumer goods data and sustainability company, has been announced as a Top 50 winner in the 2022 Real Leaders® Eco Innovation Awards. Smarter Sorting helps retailers and suppliers know more about regulated consumer products to make, market and move them across the supply chain more sustainably.
This nomination specifically highlights Smarter Sorting’s proprietary Product Intelligence Platform™—the platform connects brand manufacturers and retailers. By sharing product data for hazardous, environmentally sensitive and regulated products, the company ensures retailers meet their environmental obligations, make better decisions, avoid unnecessary fines and reduce their environmental impact.
This week, Real Leaders released its inaugural Eco Innovation Awards to its global community of social impact executives. This distinction celebrates achievement in environmental impact. As a longtime advocate for businesses that build sustainability into their business models, Real Leaders wanted to recognize the products, projects, and initiatives that are actively contributing to a healthier planet.
“We are honored to see our Product Intelligence Platform™ recognized by Real Leaders for the value it provides major retailers and consumer brands,” said Jacqueline Claudia, CEO of Smarter Sorting. “Smarter Sorting is focused on how we can use data and computing to build a better world. Through our Product Intelligence Platform™, we provide companies with product classification data for safety, health, transportation, disposal, and environmental regulations. This helps brands and retailers make more instant and informed decisions backed by accuracy.”
Smarter Sorting harnesses its math, chemistry and computing expertise to help retailers and brands do good for business while simultaneously doing good for the environment. To date, Smarter Sorting customers have achieved a 63 percent reduction in regulated waste using computational chemistry and 93 percent diversion to recycling or donation to charities.
Entries were judged on creativity, innovation, originality, measurable impact and needed to be designed to help solve an environmental issue. Awards were given in three categories: Top 50 ranking, Ones to Watch, and Eco Innovation Allies. All winners will be featured in the Q3 2022 issue of Real Leaders magazine, on Real-Leaders.com, and will be promoted across social media.
“This is such a critical moment for our planet,” says Julie Van Ness, CEO of Real Leaders. “The latest IPCC report’s dire climate warning has made it clear there is no time to waste. It’s going to take all of us working together, especially business leaders who can leverage their influence and power in service to the planet. That’s why we dedicated our Q3 issue to business-led solutions for tackling the climate crisis; and we’re excited to introduce the world to our Eco Innovation Award-winning companies and CEOs who are doing just that. This issue is a must-read for purpose-driven leaders who want to be a part of the solution.”
Real Leaders magazine can be found in Barnes & Noble bookstores, on airport newsstands, and in Delta executive lounges. Additionally, both print and digital subscriptions are available on Real-Leaders.com.
About Real Leaders
Real Leaders is a membership community for impact leaders with a global media platform dedicated to driving positive change. It’s on a mission to unite farsighted leaders to transform our shortsighted world. Founded in 2010, Real Leaders recognized early on that businesses bore a responsibility to be as cognizant of their impact on employees, society, and the planet as they are on their bottom line. Real Leaders is a B Corporation, member of the UN Global Compact, and is independently owned.LinkedIn: Real Leaders
Instagram: @Real_Leaders
Twitter: @Real_Leaders
Facebook: @RealLeadersMagazine
Hashtag: #RealLeadersImpactAwards
About Smarter Sorting
Based in Boulder, Colo., Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles, Smarter Sorting helps companies make, market and move consumer products better. Its customers include national discount club stores and supermarkets, as well as the brands they sell. The company's customers use its Product Intelligence Platform to gain product insights and identify how to best handle regulated consumer products across the supply chain to remain compliant, avoid fines and reduce their environmental impact. Awards for innovation, impact and employee experience include: Fast Company Most Innovative Companies, Built In Best Place to Work, Real Leader Impact Award and SEAL Sustainable Innovation Award. Smarter Sorting is an Unreasonable Impact company.
www.smartersorting.com
Media Contacts:
Heather Mann, General Manager, Real Leaders, Inc., heather@real-leaders.com
SmarterX PR Team: press@smartersorting.com
Release on PR Newswire
Smarter Sorting Wins Stevie Gold Award for Product Innovation
AUSTIN, Texas and BOULDER, Colo., April 28, 2022 -- Smarter Sorting, a consumer goods data and sustainability company, was today named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award for Achievement in Product Innovation in The 20th Annual American Business Awards®.
The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.'s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small.
Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning "crowned," the awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Monday, June 13.
More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories. Smarter Sorting was nominated in the Achievement in Product Innovation category.
Smarter Sorting's winning award entry highlighted how its unique data lake and proprietary software map the ingredients and chemistry of products, and using computational mathematics, it matches this data to federal and state regulations plus retailers' policies. The Back of Store System (BOSS) taps into this cloud-based decision engine to accurately determine the best way retailers can dispose of unsold or damaged products, or whether they could be donated to charity. And if the retailer partners with US Ecology, the company's Back of Store System (BOSS) syncs with US Ecology trucks so its technicians know exactly when to schedule pick-ups, what waste to pick up and how much to expect.
One of the award judges commented: "This is an excellent solution with a great mission of sustainability, safety and environment. Plus a humanitarian purpose to increase donation capabilities for retailers."
"I'm extremely proud of our team," said Jacqueline Claudia, CEO of Smarter Sorting. "We have shown making better decisions for the environment is just good business. The unique way we use data, science and technology delivers a cost-effective and scalable solution for retailers and brands."
More than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year's Stevie Award winners.
"We are so pleased that we will be able to stage our first ABA awards banquet since 2019 and to celebrate, in person, the achievements of such a diverse group of organizations and individuals," said Maggie Miller, president of the Stevie Awards.
Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2022 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.
About the Stevie Awards:
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.
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