PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The future of recycling has arrived in Portsmouth.
For the last month, a brand-new plant has been sorting trash using first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence technology.
“We’re very proud of what we are showing in Portsmouth,” said Matanya Horowitz, founder and CEO of AMP.
Horowitz is the man behind the innovation being used as a supplement to the current trash and recycling system in the city.
“We’ve taught the AI to identity what an aluminum can looks like…what a piece of cardboard looks like,” said Horowitz.
The system doesn’t just sort from the blue bins you’re used to putting out every other week for recycling - it can pull up to 60% of recyclables out of a regular load of trash from your black bin.
The technology arrives at a good time, as localities like Chesapeake and Virginia Beach weigh whether city-wide recycling is worth the cost. Horowitz says it’s a problem nationwide.
“If you can get a dollar of plastic out, but it takes more than a dollar of sorting, then it’s a marginal business,” said Horowitz.
Here’s how it works. A camera and computer are connected to a sorting device. Then after being sorted, puffs of air allow recyclables to float away from the pile.
“It really does look like magic,” said Horowitz.
Portsmouth is one of the only places in the country using this new system. But AMP’s goal is to partner with other local cities to spread a little more of that magic across Hampton Roads.