This is one of the areas where artificial intelligence can be very useful. At Onex (GE), waste sorting is done under close surveillance. Since September 2022, a camera has been installed in the road garbage truck. Each time the dumpster fills, a photo is taken of the contents. The snapshot is transmitted live to an AI which analyzes it to find out if the load contains non-compliant waste. The challenge: identify the contaminants in organic waste, because if the latter is polluted, it cannot be transformed into fertilizer. Another objective: better target awareness-raising operations among the population.
“We are thus seeking to improve the quality of collection,” explains Aline Joliat, responsible for strategic waste management in the operations department of the city of Onex. In her office, at the Intercommunal Highways Center located in Bernex, she reveals the photographs processed by AI. “Here we see that a PET bottle was thrown among the organic waste. There, a black bag.”
On another page the results for the day, month, etc. are listed. At his side, Rémy Jaffray, director of Pôlebio energies SA, explains that “to achieve a satisfactory recovery rate, we must work upstream. We must act before the waste goes into the shredder and plastic ends up shredded and mixed with bio-waste.
As part of the future law, it is planned that sorting will become compulsory. The polluter pays principle should be strengthened. “But it is difficult to trace the source of pollution,” states Rémy Jaffray. This is where AI comes in. On Aline Joliat’s computer, a map shows green, orange and red dots. Enough to identify the addresses where the collection contained unwanted items and determine the building or company that is not doing everything right.
To punish them? “First to train them better,” adds Aline Joliat. “General public communication does not work very well. With targeted communication by building or neighborhood, we can adapt the message and measure progress.” The next step consists of equipping the dumpsters with electronic chips in order to know even more precisely the places which pose a problem. And, ultimately, to move on to financial sanctions. Because poor sorting is costly for the planet, but also for communities.
“Our goal was to test detection methods on the quality of waste sorting,” says Zoé Cimatti, head of the waste sector at the Territorial Department (DT). “33% of the waste burned in Cheneviers is organic waste which could be recovered,” explains the DT. Hence the establishment of two pilot projects financed by the Canton. One in the City of Geneva and Carouge and the other in Onex.
On December 2, the Onesian results will be presented to the municipalities. “They are free to adopt it!” says Aline Joliat. For them, the issue is also financial, since the cost of processing per tonne is 234.50 francs (excluding tax) in Cheneviers, compared to 161.56 francs per tonne at the canton’s green waste recovery center in Châtillon.
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