Innovation doesn’t die from a lack of ideas—it dies from a lack of curiosity. Diana Kander, bestselling author and innovation strategist, believes we’re asking the wrong questions.

At this year’s Ecomondo fair, two radically different approaches offered glimpses into how data, automation, and artificial intelligence are transforming waste handling. While one focuses on infrastructure-level digitalization, the other targets granular sorting precision. Both point toward the same goal: cutting inefficiencies, reducing environmental impact, and lowering operational risk in waste management.

In wastewater treatment, meaningful innovation is often buried under concrete involving costly retrofits, structural overhauls, or new builds. But a quietly growing Italian company is proving that smarter systems don’t have to be heavier ones. In fact, they may just float.

Attending Ecomondo 2025 in Rimini Italy was more than a visit — it was a full immersion into the scale and urgency of circular innovation.

In industries where water use is measured in millions of liters, small decisions carry big weight. Especially when those decisions rely on data that often arrives too late.