The Regional District of Central Okanagan believes that leveraging modern technology is an important step toward optimizing recycling in B.C. and beyond.
For example, the region has long recommended Municipal Media’s Recycle Coach, a mobile app that helps citizens be aware of local rules and schedules around recycling, setting up custom reminders to stay on top of their responsibility.
More recently, the RDCO launched a pilot project that uses computer vision and artificial intelligence technology to reduce contamination in curbside recycling carts by detecting incorrect materials—and informing recyclers of their error.
The technology is installed on recycling trucks and uses a combination of mounted smart cameras with AI-based visual recognition and GPS to identify and track unaccepted items. The system is trained to recognize problematic items, such as plastic bags and Styrofoam.
Scanning the material collected, the solution instantly finds items that are not supposed to be present—and takes a photo. The image is then included on a postcard, alongside education information, and is mailed directly to the resident.
A report from the five-month pilot points to a reduction in contamination of 23%.
The pilot, which ran from October through March, represented collaboration between the Regional District of Central Okanagan, member municipalities, Recycle BC, Environmental 360 Solutions, and Prairie Robotics—and, of course, the residents of the region, who were also active participants in the project.
In addition to a reduction in contaminants, the report categorized more than one-third of residents as “learners.” When Learners received a postcard informing them of a recycling mistake, they then changed their behaviour in subsequent collections.
Indeed, the report found that many residents changed behaviour after just one message, demonstrating how tech solutions can positively influence consumer behaviour toward sustainability.
Nearly 9,000 postcards were mailed out during the pilot, but not everyone was receptive to them. The report revealed that about 7% of households remained “repeat offenders” who contribute an outsize amount to recycling contamination—a tough problem for tech to solve alone.
“The good news is the pilot has shown a huge percentage of our residents are recycling correctly,” says Cynthia Coates, who functions as RDCO’s Supervisor of Solid Waste Services.
Coates says that the technology solution greatly outpaces manual inspection of recycling and the automated, data-based approach also enables “targeted education where it is most needed.”
“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,” the supervisor said.
The RDCO says it is now exploring options to implement the use of this specialized AI-powered technology on the recycling collection trucks on a more permanent basis.
A version of this article was originally published on Techcouver.com.
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