Climbing mountains is challenging, but I'd venture to say sorting a mountain of recyclables effectively and efficiently presents itself as its own climate action Mount Everest (or Mount Never-rest 🥁😂) The recycling industry is facing a big hurdle: incorrect recycling. Incorrect recycling occurs when people don't look closely enough at recycling labels, put glass in the wrong bin, and place recyclables in a plastic bag 🙃. Recyclers should also remember that their decisions impact the recycling plant, which can create equipment jams and employee injuries. It's imperative that recycling is done correctly so items won't go into landfills, plant operators aren't injured, and resources won't be wasted. However, we are all human, and we are prone to make mistakes still, or our best wishes to recycle are thwarted by recycling bins that do not cover the specific types of recycled items. To overcome (in)advertent human recycling decisions, EverestLabs has created an AI that sorts recycling while on conveyor belts to their proper destination. In addition to tracking recycling efficiency and monitoring recovery rates, EverestLabs uses specialized object recognition algorithms capable of outpacing the speed of human sorters. (Also, AI also doesn't get bored after doing the same thing over time 🤖♻️📈). I think we have reached this point of using artificial intelligence for our recycling efforts because more significant larger issues are still not addressed: - inefficient product designs. - consumption patterns. Changing our consumption patterns and industries' wasteful product designs will positively impact the environment and make recycling plants' task of sorting mounds of recyclable material easier. Using AI for recycling is a great climate solution, but we need to address our habits first until all recycling plants can afford AI operations. How would you feel if AI took over all recycling operations? Where do you think recycling AI needs to be deployed now? Let me know in the comments 👇 Read here for more information on how to avoid recycling mistakes: https://bit.ly/3eABhTd Photo by Vivianne Lemay on Unsplash