The update outlines that the use of smart cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) technology reduced contamination in curbside recycling carts by 23% by detecting when the wrong material landed in recycling carts – and letting residents know about it in real-time.
The five-month pilot, which ran from October through March 2024, was a partnership between the Regional District of Central Okanagan, member municipalities, Recycle BC, Environmental 360 Solutions and Prairie Robotics. The pilot program aimed to reduce the region’s overall recycling contamination levels, which in the past have led to costly surcharges for local municipalities.
In addition to a 23% reduction in contaminants, the report also outlines that most Central Okanagan residents are doing an excellent job with their recycling, with almost half of all residents (45.9%) recycling correctly on a continuous basis. The pilot findings also showed 35.6% of residents were considered “learners”, meaning when they received a postcard, they then changed their behaviour in subsequent recycling collections. Over a third of residents changed behaviour after just one postcard. The findings also showed 6.7% of households that are considered “repeat offenders” are responsible for a third of the recycling contamination.
The top three contaminants identified in the pilot were flexible plastics, such as blue bags, wrappers, grocery bags, chip bags and wrappers (which belong at the depot), garbage, and Styrofoam (Depot only).
RDCO Supervisor of Solid Waste Services, Cynthia Coates says the technology can cover many more homes than manual inspections and provide targeted education where it is most needed. Moving forward, the pilot data will help Waste Ambassadors target those high-contamination areas with physical cart checking.
“The good news is the pilot has shown a huge percentage of our residents are recycling correctly, and this direct approach to recycling education can really help improve the quality of recycling by providing residents timely personalized feedback based on their actual recycling habits,” says Coates.
The innovative technology installed on recycling trucks uses a combination of truck-mounted smart cameras with AI-based visual recognition and GPS to identify and track unaccepted items. The system 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, highlights them and takes a photo. The photo is included on a postcard, along with education information and mailed directly to the resident.
A total of 8777 postcards were mailed out during the pilot. The special technology was added to four recycling trucks at a cost of $68,000, half of which was paid for by Recycle BC.
The RDCO is now exploring options to implement the use of this specialized AI-powered technology on the recycling collection trucks on a more permanent basis.