To punish those who do not sort their waste correctly, cameras are installed in garbage trucks and their images are analyzed by AI.
Green, yellow, brown, blue trash can, … not a year goes by without a new trash can appearing in our cities to sort waste. But sometimes we make mistakes when sorting. More than 10 kilos of waste are poorly sorted by the French each year. This is considerable because it generates additional costs for cities who have to resort waste or sometimes send entire containers of recyclable waste to be destroyed because they visually contain too many poorly sorted trash cans. What to do ?
In Australia’s Auckland city, the city will begin experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) in recycling trucks starting in April to identify the wrong types of waste and help target those who repeatedly use the wrong bins. Waste collection staff say the rate of poorly sorted waste has increased from 20% to 25% since stricter rules were put in place two months ago.
The artificial intelligence system will have two cameras feeding two trucks, which will then send their images to software with object recognition. The software will be able to recognize three of the most frequently missorted waste: plastic bags, garbage bags and textiles. If someone fills their recycling bin with garbage bags, they could be identified and caught, says the city.
The AI data will indeed make it possible to know the GPS coordinates of the person who made a sorting error with an approximate precision of 10 houses. After that, trash inspectors will follow up. Sorting errors cost Aucklanders almost €3 million a year.
In France, since January 1, 2024, poorly sorting waste is punishable by a fine of 35 euros. An apple peel in the glass bin or a cheese crust in the yellow bin could theoretically result in a fine. It is the municipal police officers and judicial police officers who can sanction offenders. Failure to comply with sorting and recycling instructions is in fact governed by article R 632-1 of the Penal Code. But for now, in our country, artificial intelligence is not used to detect bad sorters. Until when ?