Sydney council to use artificial intelligence to spy on dodgy recyclers

One Sydney council is going to extreme lengths to crack down on dodgy and lazy recyclers – and repeat offenders could have their bins taken away.

If you’re prone to sneaking general waste into your recycling bin, you might want to think twice.

If you’re prone to sneaking general waste into your recycling bin, you might want to think twice because one Sydney council is going to extreme lengths to crackdown on dodgy and lazy recyclers.

In an Australian first, Canterbury-Bankstown Council in Sydney’s southwest is fitting out its recycling collection fleet with artificial intelligence technology (AI).

Council waste operations manager Bob Tasker said cameras had been installed in the truck’s hopper to check what’s going in.

“The driver can press a button on the computer screen and it sends a message saying the bin was contaminated at this address,” he told 9 news.

Video footage that has been red-flagged by drivers is then reviewed by waste educators.

One Sydney council is fitting out its recycling collection fleet with artificial intelligence technology to keep an eye of dodgy recyclers.

The program will be used to identify streets or particular areas where recycling isn’t happening properly.

The council will then encourage residents to do the right thing through education.

Those who do will receive a smiley face sticker and those who don’t will be issued with a warning letter.

If they’re found to repeatedly break the guidelines their bins may be rejected or removed.

Resident rule breakers will then have to undertake a re-education program.

The technology and program is in its infancy but the council hopes to have its fleet monitoring more than 8000 bins a day during the next year.

Video footage which has been red flagged by drivers will be reviewed by waste educators. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper

“We spend 30 per cent of our budget on waste, we don’t want to be spending any more,” Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour said in a statement obtained by NCA NewsWire.

“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 could be prevented if people did the right thing.

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