WasteZero, the Raleigh-based company that helps reduce waste being sent to landfills and increase recycling has raised $1.5 million in a private equity raise, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“On a mission to cut the trash in half across the US, helping towns & cities protect the environment & save money,” the company says.

The startup raised the money from 17 investors, according to the filing.

The company had raised $3.3 million in 2016 for working capital and another $7 million in 2015, according to SEC filings.

The company was founded in 1991 and now works with more than 800 cities, towns and counties to reduce their volumes of municipal solid waste and increase recycling rates.

It designs, implements and runs pay-as-you-throw programs, which it calls WasteZero Trash Metering programs. Instead of paying a flat fee for waste disposal, consumers are charged based on the amount of trash they throw away.

Consumers who throw away more pay more. Those who throw away less — and recycle more — pay less.


VIDEOS ABOUT WASTEZERO:

  • Watch an overview about the company’s technology at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCa38VVma1Y
  • Watch a case study at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixGPXi8QL2s

Mark Dancy is the president of WasteZero. Prior to becoming president, he was WasteZero’s vice president of sales and marketing as well as the manager of manufacturing. In May 2012, the South Carolina Department of Commerce recognized Dancy as a South Carolina Ambassador for Economic Development.

Companies relying on a Reg D exemption do not have to register their offering of securities with the SEC, but they must file what’s known as a Form D electronically after they first sell their securities.