How AI can help sort recyclable waste

Too much waste ends up in landfill when it could be relatively easily recycled. — Relaxnews

At a time when there has never been so much waste produced on Earth, the sorting and recycling of raw materials are important issues. Scientists have developed a method, based on machine learning, to accurately separate waste to be recycled from waste to be thrown away. In the future, the goal is to be able to roll out this technology to help people systematically sort their waste correctly.

A neural network trained on a set of images can now identify recyclable objects with more than 95% accuracy using a standard webcam, according to work by researchers at University College London (UCL).

The aim is to create intelligent and reliable collection systems, working on a simple principle: scanning an item and then automatically opening a container dedicated to that kind of material. This notably includes plastic objects, too many of which currently end up in landfill when they could, in most cases, be recycled.