Watch This Garbage-Picking Robotic Waste System Sort Through Junk At A Rate Of 1,400 Items An Hour

Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider

Finnish startup ZenRobotics is on a mission to make the world a greener place by attempting to solve the global waste problem. 

The European Union alone generates 900 million tons of waste from construction and demolition.

ZenRobotics aims to make the waste sorting process faster and safer. Typically, humans manually sort through materials and in doing so, get exposed to dust and chemicals.

The ZenRobotics Recycler (ZRR) system sorts raw materials like metal, wood, and stone. Eventually, ZenRobotics will recycle mobile electronics. 

We recently had the opportunity to see the ZenRobotics Recycler in action. 

Disclosure: Finnish funding agency Tekes and Finnfacts, a non-profit media service organization in Finland, paid for my trip to Helsinki to explore the startup scene.