Breakthrough in Recycling: How to Distinguish all 12 Types of Plastics

A recent article on Plastic Classification using Machine Learning seems to make a lot of recycling and sustainability lovers excited. While plastic wastes and their inefficient recycling process continues to be a significant global problem, science, and tech step up to solve the issue once again.

How does the new recycling technology work?

As the paper claims, this new technology “can successfully distinguish between twelve plastics (PE, PP, PET, PS, PVC, PVDF, POM, PEEK, ABS, PMMA, PC, and PA12) and the utility is further proven by recognizing three unknown samples (PS, PMMA, PC).” In the case of how it works, it is in the most basic sense, an unsupervised machine learning model learning on infrared wave data of the plastics.

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What does it promise?

It is common knowledge most plastics that we throw in the recycling bins are actually non-recyclable. While a very small portion of plastics gets recycled, it creates a problem of plastic waste that goes to oceans, giant trash piles, and one that harms nature. The reason for this problem is mainly that the industry demands high purity plastics and usually, they have little to no means of distinguishing plastics if they want to recycle them except for the very low number of distinguishable samples. 

With this technology, it is claimed that all commercially available plastics are now distinguishable with cameras on a conveyor belt. It is a huge breakthrough that can help us achieve a high percentage recycling ratio in our plastic waste, which accounts for a major part of global waste production.

Reuters photo

How will the industry receive this new-tech recycling?

Since these require high-tech facilities and no enforcement comes through, commenters are worried that the recycling firms will not be able to afford the costs for the technology. However, some also claim that the return from the new recycled samples would far outweigh the investment and make this technology worth the payment. Some are suggesting a bill for forcing firms to use this new tech, while some claim that it will just push the producers to make the plastics more non-recycling.

Reuters photo

To conclude…

Even if we use it or not, at least now we have a way of thanks to science and the researchers who contributed to this amazing technology. And dare I must say, we are in huge need of new recycling technologies. With self-farming farms (Read: New and Exhilarating Self-Farming Farms: How to Harvest With Zero Farmers) and recycling technologies, maybe we will get to a point of fully sustainable production circles. If you want to learn how severe the situation is, you can check out Kurzgesagt – In A Nuthsell’s video of Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic just below.