Pilot program uses AI to improve residential recycling

The Central Okanagan’s curbside recycling program will soon test artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve overall waste diversion efforts by detecting when the wrong material lands in your recycling cart - and letting you know about it in real time.

The AI pilot program, a partnership between the Regional District of Central Okanagan, member municipalities, Recycle BC, Environmental 360 Solutions and Prairie Robotics, aims to reduce the region’s overall recycling contamination levels, which in the past have led to costly surcharges for local municipalities.

The innovative technology installed on recycling trucks, uses a combination of truck mounted cameras, AI-based visual recognition and GPS to identify and track unaccepted items. The AI is trained to recognize problematic items including plastic bags, garbage, yard waste and Styrofoam; all materials that do not belong in the recycling cart. By scanning the material collected, it finds items that are not supposed to be in the recycling cart and reports them for further action.

Travis Kendel, Acting Director of Engineering Services with the RDCO says, "Most of our residents put a lot of effort into sorting their recycling correctly. With this pilot, we can help by providing curbside recyclers with customized and real-time feedback. This region-wide initiative is intended to improve the quality of recycling in our curbside recycling carts, help avoid financial penalties and direct our staff to areas where education is needed most.”

How it works:

• As recycling is tipped into the collection truck, the AI system scans the items for materials that don’t belong or contaminants.
• If the system detects a contaminant, a photo is taken from inside the truck’s hopper, and the materials that don’t belong are highlighted.
• A postcard with the image will be sent to the household with information about what can or cannot go in the recycling cart. If the associated household also has the Recycle Coach app, they will also be notified on their mobile device.
• For privacy, everything except for the detected recycling contaminant will be blurred out in the image.

Brendan McShane, Director of Collection with Recycle BC says, "We are excited to be partnering with the Regional District of Central Okanagan and Prairie Robotics on this innovative pilot program to assist residents in their recycling efforts and decrease contamination and hazardous items from entering our recycling system.”

Residents can expect to start seeing postcards from the Regional District and Prairie Robotics in their mailboxes by late November. The system is designed to identify items, not individuals or written information.

Residents who already use the Recycle Coach app will also receive text notifications if items that don’t belong are identified.