Have you ever ordered a coffee to go and then stood staring at the garbage, paper recycling, plastic recycling, and compost containers when you were finished wondering what the best bin is for the cup, lid and sleeve? Many people get confused when it comes to sorting recycling, and even people with the best intentions can easily miscategorize any item, which has led to high rates of contamination and many recycling becoming landfill garbage. Launched in November 2018, RecycleVision combined machine vision technology with motion-sensing recycling bins that use auditory indications and LCDs or LEDs that light up green or red to indicate that either yes, that plastic bottle does belong in the plastics bin, or no, that coffee cup does not belong in paper recycling. This real-time recycling feedback at the point of disposal has the highest immediate impact on the accuracy and efficiency of our recycling system and the creation of a genuine circular economy. RecycleVision offers two models for different scales, both of which can be programmed for localized recycling standers: a smaller bin for homes and offices which can refuse to open when it senses potential contaminants attempting to be placed, and a small screenless IoT device that can be attached to large public bins. This system is also incredibly useful for data collections and statistics on the recycling performance of citizens, comparison of recycling rates between different neighbourhoods, what type of item people are most confused about recycling, and how full a container is. RecycleVision’s AI sorter could revolutionize recycling systems of countries that cannot afford recycling centers, like Chile, which currently wholly depends on how good the population is at sorting their recycling. It also has the potential to drastically improve North America’s recycling system, where many recyclables have ended up in landfills since China and many other Southeast Asian countries have started to reject North America’s often highly contaminated recycled goods. With more IoT prototypes on the way that connect through mobile phones and offer points systems for citizens who are great recyclers, RecycleVision is offering one of the only regenerative recycling solutions for a circular economy.

RecycleVision Smart Recycling for Cities and Offices. (n.d). (2020). Retrieved from https://recycle.vision/