First Council using Artificial Intelligence to improve recycling behaviour

The City of Canterbury Bankstown is trialling Artificial Intelligence in an attempt to help residents recycle right.

In an Australian-first, the Council has been trialling the advanced technology since early this year, and is now in its final stages.

The aim of the trial is to roll out state-of-the-art technology across the Council’s recycling fleet to help identify residents who do the wrong thing by placing incorrect items into the yellow bin.

“Our Recycle Right Program is not about punishing residents – in fact we’re not even fining them – nor does it have anything to do with spying on people,” Mayor Khal Asfour said.

“Instead, it’s about working with the community to re-educate those who do the wrong thing, to make sure they know how to recycle right and ultimately do what’s best for the environment.”

The AI technology works by identifying contaminated material and sending alerts to Council officers. This allows Council to sample more bins more efficiently and with greater accuracy than ever before, and better target education messaging.

The Council currently collects about 8000 yellow bins a day, resulting in more than 22,000 tonnes of recycling material each year.

Mayor Asfour said seeing people put inappropriate waste in their yellow bins, such as paint, batteries and engines, clearly shows there is a need for re-education.

“It’s a huge cost for recycling facilities to sort through recycling material, and if that material is contaminated, our residents bear an added unnecessary cost,” he said.

“This can all be prevented if people simply do the right thing, and our Recycling Right Program is a leading and innovative way to help guarantee that with better targeted messaging.”

Under the Program, residents who do the right thing will receive a smiley bin tag and go in the draw to win a monthly prize. Those who recycle incorrectly are provided with tailored feedback to educate them through letters and COVIDSafe conversations.

“If people are ignoring our Council officers then we will act, and that could mean they lose abin until they complete a recycling education program,” Mayor Asfour said.