DistantNews
Support us
🇸🇪 Sweden /Energy & Infrastructure

Airport technology to catch food waste misusers in Stockholm

From Svenska Dagbladet · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Stockholm is using X-ray machines and AI to identify individuals improperly disposing of food waste in green bags.
  • The green bags, intended for food waste, are often misused as general trash, complicating recycling and increasing costs for Stockholm Vatten och Avfall.
  • This three-year project, inspired by airport security, aims to improve recycling rates by identifying and potentially penalizing those who contaminate food waste streams.

Stockholm is deploying advanced technology, including X-ray scanners and artificial intelligence, to tackle the persistent problem of food waste contamination. The initiative targets the misuse of green bags, which are meant exclusively for food scraps but are frequently treated as regular garbage.

Many seem to see the green food waste bag as a regular trash bag.

— Lars-Olov AnderssonResponsible for waste suction at Stockholm Vatten och Avfall, explaining the misuse of the green bags.

Lars-Olov Andersson, head of waste suction at Stockholm Vatten och Avfall, explained that while 93% of brown paper bags for food waste are used correctly, the green plastic bags only achieve an 80-85% accuracy rate. This contamination, which includes items like entire takeout containers or bathroom waste, hinders the recycling process, leading to unnecessary costs and difficulties in producing biogas and fertilizer.

You throw takeout food with the whole packaging in the bag or use it in the bathroom.

— Lars-Olov AnderssonDescribing common misuses of the green food waste bags.

The project draws inspiration from airport security systems that use X-rays to detect prohibited items. By employing similar technology, waste can be scanned, and AI can identify non-food waste materials. A further challenge is tracing the origin of contaminated bags. The plan is to use cameras to read batch numbers on the bags, linking them to specific geographical areas without creating a sense of surveillance.

If we pick out twenty bags, how do we know where they come from?

— Lars-Olov AnderssonExplaining the challenge of tracing contaminated waste bags.

This three-year pilot program, a collaboration with Envac and Local Life, will involve all Stockholm residents using green bags for food waste. Similar technologies are also being tested in smart cameras for select environmental rooms and in waste suction facilities in Norra Djurgårdsstaden. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of recycled food waste and reduce the financial burden caused by improper disposal.

What if we do the same. Instead of standing and tearing open bags, we look through them with X-rays, and then we have an AI that says: 'That's not right. There's something in here that isn't food waste.'

— Lars-Olov AnderssonDescribing the inspiration and plan to use X-ray and AI technology.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Svenska Dagbladet in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog