00:00Useful in our daily lives, but dangerous when improperly discarded.
00:08Batteries like these pose a threat to recycling plants and their workers.
00:12That's why some plants, like this one in South Eastern England,
00:15are using AI to detect batteries before they are crushed and can spot fires.
00:20But the portable tech is primarily powered by lithium-ion batteries,
00:23which again is a wonderful piece of technology.
00:26But if the wrong thing happens to it when it's no longer wanted,
00:29and that's if it goes into a bin, it gets crushed, it comes into contact with air and water,
00:33they can set on fire.
00:38By mounting a camera over a conveyor belt,
00:41the firm uses AI Vision technology to spot batteries among all the waste,
00:45and uses a blast of air to remove them, preventing issues down the line.
00:50So we're using a camera system mounted above a belt,
00:53and that is connected to a computer that is running an AI machine learning system
00:57that is scanning those images and looking for batteries and hazardous objects
01:02that we've trained the AI algorithm to detect.
01:06The same tech does more than prevent fires.
01:08By identifying and isolating the batteries, it turns them into a valuable resource.
01:13After all, they contain lithium, cobalt, gold, palladium and rare earth.
01:18Precious materials now central to geopolitics, and they are lost if not recycled properly.
01:24Geopolitics is at play here.
01:26Inside electronics are precious metals, materials like lithium, cobalt, technology metals.
01:33And we've got them here in the urban mines surrounding us,
01:36and at the moment we're throwing too many of them away, which is crazy.
01:38Why this new sort of technology and innovation to recover more materials is just simply common sense.
01:45It will drive the economy and it will protect the environment.
01:51In the UK alone, an estimated US$1.3 billion in precious and critical metals is lost each year
01:58due to inefficient recycling.
02:00Investing in tech like this could help recover these materials, reduce reliance on imports and protect workers.
02:07All while ensuring the UK has access to the resources it needs for its most essential products.
02:13Our Chan and I.T. for Taiwan Plus.
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