AI may be the future of recycling 

Bin Chen, associate professor at Purdue Fort Wayne, recently received two grants totaling more than $560,000 for recycling research projects involving AI.& Bin Chen, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science at Purdue University Fort Wayne. (Photo/Purdue’s website) The first grant is a two-year $100,000 effort to help UHV Technologies Inc. reduce production costs and create a machine to sort plastic bottles for conversion into chemicals or other usable materials. As the crushed bottles roll down a conveyor belt, a camera system uses AI to recognize and sort them into classifications, making the process more accurate and efficient.& The second grant of more than $450,000 was submitted for a collaboration between UHV Technologies and Penn State University to sort batteries for recycling. The three-year project’s goal is to increase consumer participation in battery recycling programs, improve the economics of recycling and establish state and local collection programs. Chen will develop and design a similar sorting AI for this program.& Purdue Fort Wayne graduate student Shafayet Silvy places plastic bottles on the conveyor belt to be sorted into the most appropriate classification. (Photo/Purdue website) “I believe AI will be, or is increasingly...