E-Waste Recycling Plant Uses AI To Reduce Fire Risk, Recover Valuable Metals

TaiwanPlus News

A recycling plant in southeast England is using AI-powered cameras to detect and remove lithium-ion batteries from waste, reducing fire hazards and enabling the recovery of valuable metals like lithium and cobalt. Experts say such tech could boost the UK’s circular economy and reduce the waste of US$1.3 billion in critical metals lost each year to inefficient recycling.

Transcript

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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