Innovation: Data
and Artificial Intelligence
Collected plastic waste contains
important information – we use it!
Innovation: Data
There's more to garbage than meets the eye
With our clean-up technologies, we ensure that plastic waste is caught in rivers and does not end up in the oceans. In this way we protect sensitive ecosystems, marine life and humans from the far-reaching consequences of plastic pollution. In addition, we promote the return of plastic waste to recycling processes, we also promote the change to an effective circular economy. But there is more in plastic waste – and that is important data.
Cameras and sensors on the rubbish collection boat, on bridges or on drones are used to record images and videos of the plastic waste in the river water. These are then evaluated using AI methods from artificial intelligence, developed by our partner in the Marine Perception research group at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence in Oldenburg.
This automatic waste detection system processes the data into information that provides information on the type, amount and composition of the plastic waste. This information helps local governments, authorities or environmental projects to implement countermeasures – ideally in such a way that the waste is prevented from entering the environment as early as possible. In this way, the problem of plastic pollution in water can be solved in the long term before it occurs.
If you use this data and information, add this information for simulations and supplement it with further information, such as weather data or flow rates of the river, you can even make predictions about how plastic will be distributed spatially and temporally in the river, at what point in time and where in the river plastic flows past. This knowledge helps us to use our clean-up technologies even more efficiently.
Conclusion
By collecting plastic waste and the associated data and information, you can gain important knowledge about the problem – and thus establish ways to solve it.
Garbage collected - but what's next?
Our way of returning plastic as a valuable resource to the cycle.
Do you have any questions?
We are happy to help.