As the government demands that more items be recycled, a company in Vancouver is using AI technology to help recycling plants sort different types of plastic.
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The software company Metaspectral, which develops the technology, uses hyperspectral imagery from a special camera positioned above a conveyor belt carrying recyclables. The captured images contain information from across the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing the company’s algorithms to identify classifiable materials.
The company recently received $419,000 from the BC government on top of the $300,000 it received in 2021.
Metaspectral CEO and co-founder Francis Doumet says the technology will allow recycling facilities to sort previously indistinguishable materials at the polymer level in real time.
For example, the technology can distinguish between two detergent containers that look the same in shape and color but are made of different materials.
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Current methods use computers to determine the shape of different recyclables, but this is the first time the technology has been used to sort previously inseparable plastics, Doumet said. says.
The sensing technology used by Metaspectral has been around for some time, Doumet said, but has been used primarily by the military to detect explosives and the like.
“There have been academic studies showing that it is possible, but no one has actually commercialized it. The reason is that these sensors generate a very large amount of data. Terabytes of data per day,” Doumet said in an interview.
“So, as a company, we developed a technology that allows us to compress the data and use AI to analyze the data, all in real time.
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BC’s Department of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has set aside $10 million to reduce plastic pollution in the province.
The funding will focus on differentiating between homopolymer high-density polyethylene (HDPE), commonly found in milk containers, and copolymer HDPE, commonly found in containers used to store automotive oils and detergents. support the ongoing development of
“Historically, it has been impossible for humans or conventional cameras to distinguish between plastics at this level, which means that until today, different types of plastics have been recycled en masse,” Doumet said. says. “If the purity of post-consumer recycled plastic is not guaranteed, its quality and market value will be significantly reduced.”
The federal government will require at least 50% recycled content in Canadian plastic packaging by 2030.
