The partnership between Scaler and WasteTracker officially launched with a webinar, to address the "blind spot" of estimated waste data in commercial real estate by replacing it with high-fidelity, auditable smart metering.
The commercial real estate industry has reached a turning point where data is no longer just a "nice-to-have" - it is the engine behind asset valuation. While most portfolios have spent the last decade mastering the nuances of energy and water tracking, a massive "blind spot" remains: waste.
In our recent webinar, Luc van de Boom, CIO and co-founder of Scaler, and Renata Hartle, CEO and co-founder of WasteTracker, officially kicked off our partnership and discussed how the industry is moving past estimates toward a future of high-fidelity, auditable operational data.
The decision to partner stems from a shared vision of operational excellence. While Scaler acts as the centralized data platform, WasteTracker provides the precise, granular data points that prevent reporting from being a "guess".
For many real estate investors, ESG reporting feels like a complex puzzle. There is significant overlap between frameworks like GRESB, INREV, and CRREM, where similar data - such as energy use intensity or waste production - is required in slightly different formats. Scaler acts as a single source of truth, pulling data automatically from invoices, SAP systems, and utility providers to solve this overlap.
As Luc noted, the industry is seeing a natural evolution in focus: "The market's primary focus has been on energy and water benchmarks. However, as our clients gain a better understanding of those areas, we are seeing a natural, strategic shift toward waste data. The real breakthrough happens when we fully integrate these insights into the overarching asset management process."
The true value of this integration isn't just in the reporting, but in the decision-making. Scaler shows how waste data influences GRESB scores and CAPEX planning towards 2050 to reduce energy, water, and waste. By automating data collection, resources can be shifted away from manual spreadsheets toward high-level analytics.
"We really focus on how fund managers navigate complex decisions - from de-risking portfolios through selective divestment to identifying new areas for asset optimization. Today, enhancing waste performance can make a big impact on improving overall asset value.” - adds Luc.
Despite the sophistication of modern buildings - which Renata describes as "digital organisms" that track heat, gas and electricity in real-time - waste management is often stuck in the dark ages. Most organizations still rely on a simple, flawed math: Bin Size × Collection Frequency. This assumes every bin is full every time a hauler visits.
Renata explains the absurdity of this status quo with a simple analogy: "Think about how ridiculous this is. It’s like pulling up to a gas station, filling your tank, and paying for a full tank every single time without ever checking how much fuel you actually put in or how many kilometers you drove. We would never accept that for our cars - so why do we accept it for multi-million-euro portfolios?"
Even when haulers provide weight data, it is often a retrospective estimate derived from weighing the entire truck at the end of a route. This "post-mortem" data provides no granular understanding of who is actually producing the waste or whether it is being contaminated.
Inaccuracy isn't just a reporting headache; it’s a financial and regulatory risk. Precise measurements show that in most large sites, the top 10% of producers generate over 50% of the total waste. Charging tenants based on a square-meter ratio is effectively asking eco-conscious tenants to subsidize the waste of others.
Premium tenants now demand their own individual data points for their corporate reporting. If a landlord cannot provide transparent, auditable logs, they risk losing tenant patience and failing to meet the rigorous standards of CSRD or GRESB.
As Luc emphasized: "High-quality data and increased sustainable performance lead to increased valuations. While it's hard to put an exact percentage on it, plenty of research proves this. A good data strategy allows you to focus on analytics and data-driven decision-making rather than just manual collection."
This is where the partnership between Scaler and WasteTracker comes into play. WasteTracker provides the hardware - smart terminals in the waste cabin - to measure waste precisely when it is dropped off by cleaning services and when it is collected by haulers, including the waste treatment data.
This raw data is then funneled into Scaler, where it is integrated with the rest of the building's ESG metrics. To further streamline this, Scaler has implemented AI features that allow clients to focus on insights and execution. The platform can help identify which asset is producing the most waste and suggest specific actions to take, reducing the need for external resources.
With global waste production predicted to grow by another 70% by 2050, the infrastructural and financial pressure on buildings will only increase. Relying on estimates is no longer just inefficient - it can lead to major business risks, such as greenwashing or failed reporting audits.
Renata closed the session with a vital question for the industry to consider: "How soon will smart metering for waste stop being a competitive advantage to attract the best tenants and simply become the standard for compliance, regulation, and cost?"
The transition from "blind spot" to "smart utility" is already happening. The question is no longer if you should measure your waste, but how fast you can start.
Learn more about Scaler: https://scalerglobal.com/
