In Depth: New recycling trends

What if your trash could sort itself? Across the country, recycling is getting a high-tech upgrade.. from AI powered robots sorting bottles and cans to services that give your old batteries and plastic wraps a second life. In this episode of In Depth, we explore the cutting ways of waste innovation.

LOS ANGELES - What if your trash could sort itself? Across the country, recycling is getting a high-tech upgrade… from AI powered robots sorting bottles and cans to services that give your old batteries and plastic wraps a second life. In this episode of In Depth, we explore the cutting ways of waste innovation.

SEGMENT ONE

Hal interviews Republic Systems Operations Manager Pierre Fany. He talks about the state-of-the-art recycling facility that was recently opened in Anaheim following a fire at the previous facility. He tells us that they took the opportunity to modernize and make the plant more efficient in the way it screens recyclables and optimizes recovery and diminishes product sent to landfills. Hal does a "show and tell" of various materials to find out if they are recyclable or not.

SEGMENT TWO

Apurba Pradhan from Everest Labs explains how their AI technology assists recycling facilities in quickly identifying products and separating recyclables into different categories. That allows the employees of the recycling plant to be used in other capacities, and optimizes the recovery of recyclable materials.

SEGMENT THREE

Taylor Loewen, the Regional Director for Ridwell, tells us how the alternative recycling company works, and how it recycles products that most cities don’t even try to reclaim. Ridwell offers doorstep pickup of products such as plastic wrap and envelopes, ziplock bags and mailing pouches. They also recycle other difficult categories such as textiles and batteries. Their service covers about half of Los Angeles County now and is expanding.

In Depth