ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Polk County is working to develop some university partnerships to come up with innovative ways to get you to think smarter about how you recycle.
Next year, the county's recycling contract expires, so waste management is using this as an opportunity to incorporate some changes.
You might soon be able to use your phone to analyze if an item belongs in the recycle. It would be part of an effort to help you make better choices on what you buy and bringing an item full circle by knowing what it's made of and how it could be repurposed.
A company called Lid Vizion and the University of Miami are working to develop Artificial Intelligence to help you figure out what's actually recyclable.
Here’s how it works.
Someone would scan a QR code with a smartphone to open a web-based program and scan different materials to see if the items are recyclable before they throw them out.
“The QR Code is just the simplest in our opinion just because you can have a little sticker in your recycling can, you can have it on your fridge, you could put it on your recycle cart but nine times out of 10 people are making that decision indoors,” Lid Vizion Business Lead Shawn Wilborne said.
Right now, the technology can identify commonly recyclable materials. Wilborne says the focus right now is working on adding electronics and hazardous materials so when random pieces are scanned, those can be recognized as well.
“That’s why it’s so confusing because of the myriad of materials that are out there and the various ways those materials are supposed to be handled,” Wilborne said.
Wilborne says it got the idea for this startup while attending the University of Miami.
“I really started in the space my second year of law school. You know, the first year you’re in the books. You’re tunnel vision," he explained.
"The second year of law school was when I was jogging around one Sunday morning. That’s the time when you see all the litter and debris from the weekend. It was interesting to see how much materials just were out there. That was a little bit of the spark.
"I started digging down that rabbit hole of recycling, waste management, handling materials, how we control our materials, manufacturing processing, a lot of the discussion around the circular economy.”
Polk would be the first county to use the Lid Vizion technology curbside, Wilborne points out AI has been used in other communities with robots helping to sort items at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF).
“We want to collaborate with folks. We want to get this out there as quickly as possible,” Wilborne said. “We definitely want to have a pilot in a smaller neighborhood or a community first to figure out some nuances.”
Polk County could also be the first in the nation to use clear recycling bins. They're looking at rolling out about 4,000 to 5,000 of them, so there's more opportunity to be aware of what's inside at the curb.