“The integration of digital technologies into physical waste separation and treatment solutions can increase productivity by over 20% and offer a level of quality assurance of recycled materials 1,000 times higher than at present”
AI is a powerful tool for transforming waste management and tackling environmental challenges
In the face of growing concern about the depletion of natural resources, artificial intelligence (AI) is improving efficiency and accuracy in recycling and waste management. AI helps to achieve greater circularity of products and resources, which is essential in order to boost a more sustainable economic model.
This technology, with its data processing and analysis capabilities, is also expected to have a significant impact on the way materials are sorted, collected and recycled.
Unique equipment for optimising waste management
TECNALIA is investing in unique equipment to capture automatically, continuously and en masse different types of information (physical, morphological, chemical, mineralogical) from secondary material resources and to infer, by means of deep learning algorithms, other material or product characteristics.
Efficiency and productivity in the recovery of material resources
An increasing use of AI in waste management processes will lead to increased efficiency and productivity in the recovery of material resources. It will also enable the access to more information on the quality of these resources, ensuring trust between supply agents in circular value chains.
Iñigo Vegas, Director of Construction Materials and Products at TECNALIA, explains that “the integration of digital technologies into physical waste separation and treatment solutions can increase productivity by over 20% and offer a level of quality assurance of recycled materials 1,000 times higher than at present”.
Beyond operational efficiency, the use of AI in waste management also opens up opportunities around the creation of new markets.
Although there are still challenges to overcome, the potential of AI to revolutionise waste management and promote a circular economic model is very promising.
