Curbing residential cart contamination with AI
The City’s Waste & Environment department has launched a pilot program using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to keep residential waste streams cleaner and increase cost savings.
Partnering with Regina-based, Prairie Robotics, the automated technology works to check recycling (blue) and organic (green) residential carts for selected materials that shouldn’t be there.
“The benefit of the program is to reduce contamination in the recyclable and organic materials we collect from residents,” says Mark Molesky, Waste & Recycling Engineer. “The cleaner the materials we collect, the more efficient the recycling and composting process. This leads to cost savings for the City, higher-quality recyclables and a reduced environmental impact overall for the community.”
The technology is in place on two of the City’s collection trucks. Using an image of the materials collected, the technology scans the materials emptied into the truck. The software then identifies selected items that do not belong in the cart and creates a personalized postcard that is sent to the homeowner.
“Residents do a pretty good job of sticking to the Ins and Outs with their curbside collection carts, but we can always do better,” says James Nicholls, Collections Manager. “The purpose of the postcard isn’t to scold or shame anyone, it’s to help increase knowledge and awareness of what things should and shouldn’t go in carts. The lower the contamination rate, the better the end product which benefits the City, the community and the environment.”
The non-contaminated materials on the postcard are blurred out to maintain privacy. The pilot program will run until the spring of 2025 and will be used on the residential green and blue carts. The findings of the pilot will be used to inform future decisions about the long-term use of the technology in the City’s collection trucks.
For more information on curbside collection and the Ins and Outs, head to curbside.lethbridge.ca to use the Waste Wizard or download the Lethbridge Loop app.
The free smartphone app provides reminders for cart collection as well as notifications for other planned services such as power outages, street sweeping and watermain work efficiently and conveniently. Android smartphone users can download the Lethbridge Loop app here. Apple smartphone users can download the Lethbridge Loop app here.
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City Hall
910 4 Avenue South
Lethbridge, AB T1J 0P6
Phone: 311
or 403-320-3111 (if outside of Lethbridge)