From HR to WasteTracker: Renata Hartle’s Unique Approach to PropTech
- Rico Naylor
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
For 15 years, Renata Hartle has navigated the commercial real estate sector from a unique perspective. Starting at Skanska, as an HR business partner, her "passion for creativity" soon led her to a role as an innovation manager. This human-centric and creative background gave her a different lens to view the industry's most ingrained problems.
4 years after moving to Colliers to launch a smart building consultancy, she was confronted with a universal, yet unsolved, challenge.
The Problem: A "Trophy Building" with a Manual Problem
While working on ESG initiatives for the Q22 skyscraper in Warsaw, a "trophy building" with major tenants like Deloitte, Renata found a critical gap.
Waste reporting was a vital ESG metric, but the data was estimated and collected manually. Where many saw a simple (but messy) logistical headache, Renata saw a digital opportunity.
"I wanted to help them to digitalise it," she recalls, "and as I couldn't find any relevant solution in the European market, I started to come up with ideas on how to build it".
The Solution: What is WasteTracker?
The idea was to replace the manual clipboard with a digital, hardware-based system.
WasteTracker is a solution designed to measure, manage & minimise waste in your building.
The system involves shipping equipment to the client's building, which is then installed in the waste cabin. Once activated, this hardware becomes your smart waste meter,
allowing cleaning staff to be trained on it quickly. This provides landlords and occupiers with accurate, automated data for their ESG reporting and cost management, solving the core problem Renata had identified.
From Concept to MVP: The Power of Execution
This is where Renata’s "doer personality" took over.
She found a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Tomasz, based on "personal chemistry" and a shared vision. Tomasz had years of experience in developing smart building platforms.
Their speed was remarkable.
"Before Christmas we had the idea, I think it was born at the end of October," Renata says, "and we started to really put together the MVP... I think the first meeting I had to show it to the client was like early January".
This bias for action and a firm belief in their mission meant they "never doubted the viability of their concept".
The Growth Strategy: Hacking the "Innovation Curve"
This is the core of WasteTracker's success.
Renata, an avid student of innovation, knew the industry's adoption cycle was slow. She made a deliberate choice to ignore the sceptics.
"I have learned that very early on, and I kind of gave up on convincing the late majority," she explains. "I would always search for early adopters... Who will take the pride saying, 'Hey, I was the first’”.
This strategy created a powerful domino effect. She leveraged her longstanding relationships to secure "transparent feedback". This allowed her to build a product that was validated by the market from day one, leading to over 100 buildings within the next year.
Today, WasteTracker is set to become the first European waste benchmark and is paving the way for Commercial Real Estate to become a zero-waste business.
What's next for WasteTracker
WasteTracker has officially launched in France, with its first system now live in a Paris office building.
This strategic expansion is designed to help French landlords and asset managers meet increasingly strict sustainability regulations, such as the RE2020 carbon impact rules and the Anti-Waste Law (AGEC).
Key highlights include:
New Leadership: Arnaud de Bettignies has been appointed as Customer Success Manager for France. With over a decade of experience at major firms like IWG and SUEZ, he is tasked with leading clients and partnerships in the region.
The Mission: The expansion aims to bring "circular intelligence" to the French market, moving beyond simple compliance to help buildings prove their ESG progress with accurate, weight-based data.
Growing Footprint: With this launch, WasteTracker is now active in over 120 buildings across seven European countries, cementing its position as a benchmark for data-driven waste management in Europe.
As Renata Hartle notes, the goal is to transform waste data into "climate intelligence," allowing French clients to demonstrate, not just declare, their environmental performance.
The Insider Take
Renata Hartle's journey with WasteTracker provides three powerful, actionable lessons for any B2B leader in the PropTech arena.
Stop Wasting Time on Laggards: Renata’s success is proof that innovative B2B sales in CRE should focus 100% on finding the "early adopters". Stop wasting time and resources trying to convince sceptical, "late majority" clients. Find the innovators, and the rest of the market will follow.
Execution is the Only Differentiator: The market is full of ideas. Renata’s success came from the courage and speed to build an MVP almost immediately. Her bias for execution over endless ideation is what made WasteTracker a reality.
Innovation Comes from the "Outside": Renata's background in HR and Innovation, not traditional facilities management, was her greatest asset. It allowed her to see the problem from a human-centric, creative perspective, proving that the best ideas often come from outside the industry's echo chamber.