Retail trade organization to target industry waste

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), based in Arlington, Virginia, has announced a partnership with Austin-based startup Smarter Sorting that will connect retailers with AI-based environmental compliance technology to help them better manage their waste.

RILA says Smarter Sorting's machine learning platform helps companies make data-driven, automated decisions regarding all unsold, damaged or returned items. The Smarter Sorting platform provides real-time transparency for compliance programs and helps limit waste costs business-wide.

As part of the partnership, RILA says it will co-host a summit with Smarter Sortingin  the coming yearto collaborate with retailers across the country on customized compliance solutions.

"Retailers are committed to making their businesses more sustainable; as such, many are looking to innovative technology that can help make environmental compliance operations more effective and that help them achieve larger company sustainability goals," says Tiffin Shewmake, the vice president of RILA and executive director of RILA's Retail Compliance Center. "We're enthusiastic about this partnership with Smarter Sorting, which helps retailers do just that, and we look forward to moving the industry forward in this area together."

"As a startup committed to advancing retail sustainability, Smarter Sorting is thrilled to partner with RILA to launch the first-ever Innovation in Action Retail Summit," says Chris Ripley, the Smarter Sorting CEO. "Our goal is to create a space where retailers can explore new technologies like machine learning to tackle their most vexing compliance problems while advancing their zero waste goals."

The announcement comes as RILA prepares to hold an annual meeting of retail environmental compliance and sustainability practitioners hosted by the University of Texas at Austin this week, which will include representatives from Smarter Sorting, as well as Austin Mayor Steve Adler, in a celebration of the city's growing tech scene.

RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers and service suppliers, including Target and Walmart, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.