Interactive AI-powered recycling machine unveiled at U of G

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The University of Guelph has unveiled a new AI-powered recycling assistant, Oscar, aimed at improving campus waste reduction.

The interactive machine is created by tech company Intuitive AI.

“[It’s] really here to take the guess work out of recycling,” said Alex Rector, enterprise account executive at the company.

You present your item to Oscar and it instantly guides you to the correct bin to dispose it in.

“We want people to be recycling what can actually be recycled. So reducing landfill, but also trying to remove the amount of waste that can end up in recycling bins and actually contaminate those things as well,” said Joanna Carson, the marketing lead.

The goal is to improve recycling and composting while providing insights into sustainability.

“‘We’re always looking to increase our waste diversion and tools like this are great and fun for the user to do so,” said Mike Posteraro, with the University of Guelph.

The system can be installed with little cost to host partners, like the university.

“We’re in stadiums. We’re in universities. We’re in shopping malls. We’re in airports and with the help of our partners and through something called the Oscar Media Exchange, we’re actually able to place these Oscars for free at those properties, so it’s not actually eating up your sustainability budget,” said Carson.

Oscar adapts to evolving municipal guidelines, updating in near real-time, to local recycling regulations and packaging requirements.

“It’s really to understand the missed priorities or missed opportunities on sites. For example, if I were to tell you this site has a really big problem with coffee cups, you would know where to prioritize your education,” said Rector.

The team at Intuitive AI said the technology is designed with privacy in mind, only identifying waste items and does not collect personal information.