The world's largest recycling plant builder has partnered with a startup to install an AI-powered system for recycling recycling, The Washington Post reported. And over the next few years, the companies announced Wednesday, “the companies plan to equip thousands of recycling facilities around the world with computers that can analyze and identify every item that passes through their waste plants.”
”[S]”Recyclables, especially plastics, end up becoming contaminated with other forms of waste,” said Lokendra Pal, a professor of sustainable materials engineering at North Carolina State University. [W]Asto plants don't catch everything. [AI startup] Greyparrot has already installed more than 100 AI waste spotters in around 50 sorting facilities around the world. [co-founder Ambarish] Mr Mitra said 30 per cent of potentially recyclable material ends up with trash sent to landfills. The inability to recycle means companies have to make more things from scratch, including large amounts of plastic from fossil fuels. Also, more waste ends up in landfills and incinerators, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and polluting the surrounding area.
Mitra said Greyparrot's AI tools could be deployed in thousands of waste treatment facilities around the world to increase the proportion of glass, plastic, metal and paper sent to recycling facilities. “If we could move the needle even by 5 to 10 percent, that would be an incredible achievement on a global scale in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact,” he said. Reducing pollution increases the value of recycled materials and makes it more likely that companies will use them to make new products, Reck said. “If AI and robots could potentially help improve the quality of the recycling stream, that would be huge,” she said…
Greyparrot's device is essentially a set of visual and infrared cameras connected to a computer that monitors trash as it passes over a conveyor belt, picking everything from loose bottle caps (which can't be recycled!) to books (which in some cases can be recycled). ) into 70 categories and label them. Recyclable!) to aluminum cans (Recyclable!). Waste treatment facilities could connect these AI systems to sorting robots to more accurately separate trash and recyclables. AI can also be used as a quality control system to measure how well waste and recyclables are separated. This allows factory managers to tinker with assembly lines to collect more recyclables or ensure that bundles of recyclables are free of contaminants, allowing them to be sold at a higher price. There is a possibility that it will become possible.
According to the article, GreyParrot's co-founder said the company's trash-detecting computers “could help regulators crack down on companies that produce large amounts of non-recyclable packaging.”
“AI systems are so accurate that they can identify the brands of individual products,” he said, “giving us insights to hold companies more accountable for the promises they make to the public and their shareholders.” There is a possibility.” ”
