Commemorating Youth Month under the theme "Accelerating youth economic emancipation for a sustainable future"

Youth driving the fourth industrial revolution: Using artificial intelligence to reduce landfill waste

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Rapid population growth and urbanisation are resulting in growing mountains of waste in South Africa and abroad.?With more and more garbage ending up in landfills and incinerators, we need urgent strategies to reduce, reuse and recycle solid waste.

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Given that recyclables are frequently dumped into one bin rather than being multi-streamed or separated at the source, contamination is high in rural areas and informal settlements.

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On the lower south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, in the town of Port Shepstone, the waste issue captured the imagination of Thulisile Machi, who went for a 4th industrial revolution solution.?

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Her company, Thulikaceb, is currently recycling glass, paper and tins. The company collects, sorts, compacts and sells waste to energy companies such as Mpact (one of Southern Africa's largest paper and plastics packaging and recycling businesses), Fine Metals (one of the country's leading metal recyclers), and Dees Recycling (an Umtata-based waste management company).

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Machi came up with the idea of artificial intelligence-assisted robots to help sort garbage in recycling plants.?Her prototype, based on the open-source MeArm system, is a robot manipulator with a mechanical arm equipped with sensors to identify different types of rubbish. It was developed by professionals at the University of the Witwatersrand's Tshimologong Makerspace.

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Tshimologong promotes and facilitates access to innovation and specialises in digital technology solutions through collaborative making, training, upskilling and experimentation. The hub has incubated over 100 start-ups and supported almost entrepreneurs since its launch in 2017.

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In the 2021/22 financial year, Machi was also supported by the Technology Innovation Agency, an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation, through Innovate Durban.

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Innovate Durban is a non-profit company that supports innovators and creates platforms to build and develop the innovation ecosystem in the Durban area.

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With further funding that Machi hopes to receive from Innovate Durban, the Tshimologong Makerspace developers will enhance the robot design through AI-assisted robotic technology so that it can work alongside humans in recycling plants to improve quality control.

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"The goal is to have robots do a better job of sorting garbage and to reduce the contamination and health hazards that human workers face daily in recycling plants. Sorting trash is a dirty and dangerous job," Machi says.

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"The robots will help human workers and work twice as fast. With continued advancements in the bots' ability to detect and extract specific objects, they could emerge as a formidable new force in the industry," adds Machi.

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Ms Machi describes the operation of the robots as simple. The robots' arms glide over moving conveyor belts, guided by cameras and computer systems trained to recognise specific objects. Oversized tongs or fingers with sensors attached to the arms snag cans, glass, plastic containers and other recyclable items from the garbage and deposit them in nearby bins.

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The robots have been developed to identify material characteristics by recognising different colours, textures, shapes, sizes, and patterns. The AI will improve their tactile abilities so that they will be able to distinguish between plastic, paper and metal at a rate of 70 to 80 items per minute.

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Machi's concern about the need to reduce environmental contamination and health hazards that human workers face daily in recycling plants has been recognised for some time.?For example, a 2015 study brought out by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and partners found that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers' health and safety. According to the study, people in this occupation are more than twice as likely as the average worker to be injured at work.

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In the meantime, Thulikaceb is working hard to stay ahead of the recyclables game. It aspires to be the first company on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast to achieve zero waste by recycling and composting, with no waste going to landfill or incineration. It will not only be able to offer its clients an environmentally responsible waste disposal solution, but potentially lower their waste management costs.

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"I believe that this trend will continue across the country," says Machi. ?"It is extremely difficult to meet the new industry standards that buyers are demanding with older recycling facility assets. Municipalities and government agencies must invest in new technology. What the recycling robotic arm provides with AI is a completely new way to increase efficiency and improve safety at the plant."