Services and consulting · AI owner’s advisory for local authorities
AI owner’s advisory and waste characterisation for local authorities.
An AI lead on your side of the table, from defining the need to validating the results.
Understanding your waste better, comparing technologies, preparing a future contract: we help you define the data you need, assess the available methods and organise trials, for sorting facilities, recycling centres, waste-to-energy plants and transfer stations run by local authorities, joint waste authorities and local public companies. Your project may lead to equipment, a lighter set-up or a decision not to invest.
The missing link
An IT lead, an operations lead. Who arbitrates your AI projects?
An AI project at a waste treatment facility involves the process, the data, the operating contract and the law all at once. Each of your leads masters one part of it. None of them is tasked with bringing the parts together. The risk: specifications inspired by a supplier, a pilot without success criteria, data whose ownership nobody knows.
Already in place
IT lead
Network, cybersecurity, hosting, information systems. They secure the infrastructure, not the use case.
Already in place
Operations lead
Process, maintenance, safety, operations. They know the line, not the vision models.
The role we take on
AI lead
Use cases, data quality, trial protocol, contract, regulations. They bring the first two together towards a measurable result.
Your AI projects do not have an arbiter yet? We can take on this role, for a one-off need or over time.
Discuss my owner’s advisory needsDepending on your needs
Three situations where we can support you.
Carrying out more characterisations on a controlled budget
Determine the questions to cover, the useful number of measurement points or campaigns, and the role of manual checks.
Preparing an operating contract
Define the data to be obtained, access to it and the conditions under which it can be used with the operator.
Assessing a technology proposal
Check what is actually measured, what is estimated and how to test the solution before committing.
Five stages of an assignment
From idea to ongoing management, AI owner’s advisory across the whole project cycle.
We step in at whatever stage you have reached, for a single step or for the whole project.
Scoping and opportunity
We identify the relevant use cases for your site and rank them by their material, economic and safety benefit. We assess the maturity of your data and infrastructure: network, power supply, operating constraints.
Deliverable: a needs statement (available data, constraints, priority indicators).
Decision supported: should a study or a trial be launched?
Programme and procurement
We draft the functional programme and the technical documents, focused on results. We organise market sourcing, propose the criteria for analysing bids and set the framework for data ownership, hosting and reversibility.
Deliverables: functional programme, criteria that make bids comparable, data requirements.
Decision supported: which solutions should be assessed, and on what basis?
Trials and evidence
We define the trial protocol, establish a reference measurement before deployment and compare the announced results with a cross-validation. You decide on facts, not on a promise.
Deliverables: trial protocol, manual or instrumented reference, criteria set before the test.
Decision supported: are the results sufficient for the intended use?
Deployment and acceptance
We monitor on-site integration, coordinate the local authority, the operator and the supplier, and carry out acceptance testing against criteria set in advance.
Deliverables: acceptance results, reservations and conditions of acceptance.
Decision supported: can the system be accepted?
Ongoing management
We set up the indicators, lead performance reviews, train your teams and prepare for the data to be built into the renewal of your operating contracts.
Deliverables: usage indicators, performance reviews, monitoring of drift.
Decision supported: should we adjust, extend or stop?
How we work on site is described in our field method.
Facilities covered
Each facility raises its own questions.
Sorting facilities
Measurement of residues and bale quality, detection of batteries and hazardous objects, performance monitoring by waste stream.
See the solution for sorting facilitiesRecycling centres
Access control and number plate recognition, characterisation of containers, identification of non-compliant deposits, site security.
See the solution for recycling centresWaste-to-energy plants
Composition of the bunker, early detection of contaminants, consistency of the heating value, fire prevention.
See the solution for waste-to-energy plantsTransfer stations
Quality control at reception, traceability of deliveries, prevention of fire risk in stockpiles.
See the solution for fire protectionWhat we examine for you
A technology that works is not enough. It has to hold up on your site, in your contract and under the law.
Field conditions
Dust, vibration, lighting, conveyor speed, access for maintenance. Real conditions make or break a claimed performance.
Data
Who produces the data, who holds it, where it is hosted, how you get it back at the end of the contract.
Contract
Allocation of roles between the local authority, the operator and the supplier, enforceable indicators, fit with the public service delegation or the operating contract.
Regulations
Personal data protection (video, number plate recognition), the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, cybersecurity, obligations linked to extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes. We examine these points with your legal managers, your data protection officer and your IT departments, without taking their place.
Teams
AI designed to complement operators, with the training and support that make it useful day to day.
Illustrative example
A decision matrix, before choosing a system.
For each indicator, we specify where the data comes from, how it is validated and the decision it can inform. The table below illustrates the approach: it is not taken from any client site and contains no results.
| Indicator | Unit | Data source | Validation method | Possible decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recoverable materials present in the residues | Share by number of visible objects | Vision analyser on the residue conveyor | Comparison with time-stamped manual characterisations, using the same classification grid | Choose the settings or trials to study with the operator |
| Hazardous objects at the infeed | Number of alerts per week | Camera at tipping or at the head of the line | Operators check the alerts during a trial period | Step up prevention with those delivering waste, or adapt the instructions |
| Composition of containers when emptied | Estimated volume by category | Video analysis at tipping | Manual characterisation of samples over the same period | Review how waste streams are directed, or the site signage |
A share by number of objects is not a share by mass, and an estimate is not a weighing. The matrix states this for each indicator, before any trial.
Our independence commitment
When we are your owner’s adviser, we are not a bidder.
NextWaste also integrates AI and vision technologies. We say so from the outset, and we draw a simple rule from it. For an owner’s advisory assignment, we disclose our commercial relationships at the outset. We do not bid for procurement arising from that assignment, either ourselves or with a partner, and we do not accept remuneration from the supplier selected for that assignment.
Your programme remains open to every technology on the market. This commitment is included in every assignment contract.
Ways of working
Three ways to work with us.
AI diagnostic
A snapshot of your facilities: priority use cases, maturity of data and infrastructure, a costed and prioritised roadmap.
Request a diagnosticOwner’s advisory project assignment
Support on an identified project, from programme to acceptance, divided into phases that are committed to as your decisions are made.
Present a projectMulti-site
Part-time AI lead
An outsourced AI lead, available a few days a month, to follow all your projects, prepare your decisions and build your teams’ skills.
Request a proposalEach proposal specifies the scope, the deliverables, what is expected from you and what remains outside the assignment.
Field experience
A trusted third party between local authority and operator.
At SPL Allier Tri, continuous and independent data on incoming waste and residues is helping to prepare the renewal of the operating contract.
These field examples relate to continuous analysis deployments supported by NextWaste, not to owner’s advisory assignments.
“I am convinced that these tools will help us work better together, because the local authority and the operator will have the same data. And having a third party involved means nobody can say that it was one or the other who produced the data.”
Frequently asked questions
AI owner’s advisory: what you need to know.
What is AI owner’s advisory?
Owner’s advisory means advising the project owner, here the local authority, joint waste authority or local public company, to define its needs, choose its contractors and monitor delivery. AI owner’s advisory applies this role to artificial intelligence, computer vision and sensor projects at waste treatment facilities.
How does it differ from conventional owner’s advisory for a sorting facility?
Process owner’s advisory sizes a line, equipment and a building. AI owner’s advisory covers what does not appear on a plan: data quality, the actual performance of a model on your waste stream, data ownership and its place in the operating contract. The two are complementary, and we are happy to work alongside your process adviser.
How do you guarantee your independence when NextWaste also integrates technologies?
Through a written rule. We disclose our commercial relationships at the start of each assignment, and we do not bid for procurement arising from it, either ourselves or with a partner. You can therefore entrust us with preparing a purchase without closing the door to any solution.
How can you appoint us within the public procurement framework?
The procedure depends on the estimated value of the requirement, the nature of the assignment and the status of the buyer. We provide the scope information your procurement department needs, and it determines the applicable procedure. We also respond to published tenders.
Is AI intended to replace sorting operatives?
No. The systems we assess measure, detect and alert. They make teams’ work safer, make performance objective and guide investment decisions. The place of operators in the system is a criterion in every project we support.
Does our data remain our property?
It is one of the first points we look into. Ownership, hosting, operator access, reversibility at the end of the contract: we set them out formally in your technical documents, together with your legal department.
Another question? Book a meeting or see our general FAQ.
AI diagnostic
Request your AI diagnostic.
Describe your facilities and your project. We will get back to you to arrange a first conversation and suggest the right format.