Why The United States Is Turning To Recycling Robots
For decades, the United States and other wealthy countries have been dependent on China to buy and process almost half of the world’s plastic waste. Now, stricter recycling standards in China mean its cheaper for some US cities to simply send recyclables to the dump rather than pay a higher fee to process them. That’s why a number of researchers and tech companies are working on robots to make US recycling more efficient.
** Correction ** at 2:19 we describe the capacity of the Mobro 4000 as 3,000 pounds. The actual capacity is 3,000 tons.
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Why The United States Is Turning To Recycling Robots
All the junk mail and marketing needs to stop too. Cut packaging, and let us separate our recycling.
Junk mail has a very important purpose... It keeps our postage costs low.
@@earlspencer7863 I know that. Id pay the extra money to stop the junk mail. It goes straight to the bin, and its wasteful.
I’d be happy to separate my recycling before sending it out if I knew that it would make the process better and have stuff actually get recycled. The issue is that if they go back to that. Then less Americans will be willing to recycle because they are a lot of people who wouldn’t want to bother with the extra few minutes it would take to sort. We would probably have cleaner recyclables but at the same time have more recyclables going to the trash.
I heard there are websites where u can stop junk mail from coming. Pretty sure it was on shelbizleee's channel. And idk about everywhere but in my town we can bring out aluminum cans in you get cash back for our trash while making sure it is recycled properly
@@cheyraqlynn1120 in europe we have stickers that you put on your mailbox if you dont want advertising mail :) and the postman wont put it in at least in slovenia
Well.. It's looks like we gonna get Wall-E a little bit earlier
yeaaah we need Wall-E hahaha
11:34 Wall E had a a hard hat on... the human doesn't....
We need wall E now. So much trash everywhere
We might be taking off to space early too!
We need Eva to keep Wall-E happy😊
Every household in Switzerland seperates around 10 lines: Glass white Glass brown Glass green Metals Oils mechanic Oils organic Paper Cardbox Compostables Waste Plastic 1 Plastic 2 Batteries Electronics Citizens have to pay a small fee for waste, but everything else is free, that‘s how people get invested into seperating. Paper, Cardbox and waste are collected by state. Compostables are collected by private companies or farmers. 2 kinds of Plastics, electronics and Batteries we return at the store. The rest we bring to recycling storages which we can always find in walking distance. It‘s really no effort at all, you don‘t need do capitalise waste by private companies. Let it be capitalised by state and keep every single citizen involved.
I think that unfortunately most Americans do not want to recycle b/c it is like having an 'unpaid job' in their opinion. I was infuriated when my community stopped recycling!! Dumb JACKASSES!!
Switzerland doesn’t have the social economic issues that the United States has. Can you name a country proficient in this topic that isn’t 99.99% Caucasian? Your white privilege infuriates me tbh.
G B Are you honestly suggesting, seperation of waste is a race issue or are you trolling like a pro? It‘s - like my point was - a question of privatization (even though our right gets stronger every year) which we tend to do less than other countries and less than the u.s. certainly. And yes, I agree that switzerland is a privileged place in global politics and economy and I agree to get rid of some of our benefits, but waste recycling is not a global issue, it‘s local. I even agree, that I dont want to put my finger on single citizens responsibilities. Like I said: it‘s political decisions and - the ability to vote against privatization.
@@pamelaminor696 That's sad
@@pamelaminor696 'Americanism' is a disease. I feel sorry for you good informed people down there. Respect and do what you can.
One of the easiest way to handle the problem is to separate all the different types already at homes, offices and factories. Another solution is to make less different packages and try to avoid laminated materials so avoid plastic laminated with aluminium foil etc
Good to see that smart people are still trying to solve our problems though innovation and invention!
Meanwhile that "recycling vice president" is telling us they have more value in sorted materials while dumping most of their volume because a larger profit.
And also taking away jobs and giving them to robots
Would common sense suggest that we use LESS plastic? What do you personally do to reduce your consumption of plastic?
@@xinhaoxie3558 Cheap robotic recycling or give people jobs, pick one. Stopping progress in the name of jobs is never good for society as a whole. If you want lots of jobs, give construction workers spoons instead of backhoes and you will see why it is bad to intentionally be less productive.
We are but can you idiots give us more time?
How about we make LESS packaging ?
Yeah, like when you buy a bag of cookies and every cookie is in its own plastic bag. Or when you buy a box of detergent and it is half empty.
Exactly. Why not make as much as possible in floppy refill bags to cut and pour powders, liquids, grains. True. In India they invented "this is not a plastic bag" but it's not good for liquids. 100% organic and will decompose like food in a humid environment. But it can be used for takeaway and for specific measures of open-container grains, fruit, veggies etc at the green grocers instead of each fruit / rice portion being wrapped in a toxic plastic wrap. All short-term usage like we're used to with no hazardous consequences.
@@chicawhappa interesting. They should make them edible
@@icedice6393 They are edible but more for cows, goats etc. If you ate them, you might need lots of ketchup 😊
Won't happen.
reduce and reuse so you don't have to recycle, that was a great statement
Too bad reducing and reusing is bad for Capitalism then.
and how about just teaching the lazy human consumer to properly sort their recycling? i suppose laziness is the mother of invention as they say.
New punctuation for sarcasm -> ¡ & ¿
Most items aren't recycled. Its a scam. We need to force the reduction of packaging by refusing to buy items with excessive packaging.
@@user-jt1jv8vl9r The problems are theft and marketing...and much is not going to change with those. "Disposable" is one mindset that can be changed.
I want a job with AMP Robotics. They are doing amazing things that are not the only TECH but have real-world solving potential. Man, what a great job this is. Modern-day superheroes.
It's like trying to bail water out of a sinking boat. You don't improve the water bailing process with a pump alone, you fix the hole. Waste is just a symptom of a bigger issue.
Actually they did improve the pumps on ships since the holes couldn't be repaired except in drydocks, if at all.
You got that right. If it's not reusable it should have a waste tax attached . Like a carbon tax to discourage it's use. Plastic especially shouldn't be used in discriminately.
@@timothylongmore7325 I think there may be a cost if you try to buy single use plastics on Amazon. I use food containers and work and hate washing. But at Walmart is 3 or 5 bucks for 50 Styrofoam containers. On Amazon its like $50. So I comprimised and just got the reusable BPA free plastic 3 section containers for $10. In short, make it inconvenient and pricier to buy single use plastics. Cuz technically small plastics like utensils and straws may end up in the ocean or landfills due to thier size.
I wouldn't mind having multiple recycling bins in my home and having to throw them away accordingly. US Gov should facilitate this change.
Can you imagine the outcry from the "ma' FREEDUMB!" Yosemite Sam types though. We'd have another Teabagger revolt.
I agree with you but I am pretty sure the problem there is with collecting so many different streams. SF has hauling trucks that collect both landfill and recycling,, but adding more recycling containers and streams would be a mechanical and labor mess. What they didn't say here was that even in SF they don't sort the landfill stream that was showing going into the big pit with the front-loaders. Many people don't separate their trash and it all goes straight to landfill.
MakeMeThinkAgain I live in Australia and we have a system like this multiple bins each for a different purpose but apparently only 30-50% of the recycling bin actually gets recycled Government has to try really really hard to make that work
We used to have different bins in Colorado, but they changed that to get more people to recycle, and because China would handle the sorting. We may have to go back to multiple bins. Getting more people on board with recycling, should be our first priority. As well as getting companies to use materials in their packaging that are all recyclable. It amazes me just how many people don't recycle.
Here in Sweden I have 8 different bins (2 w. 4 compartments ea) and I don't really mind sorting it
I ordered a usb cable once I swear the package was twice the cost. All I wanted was the cable
Cough* CHINA, and they know exactly what they’re doing
Shop local if that's not possible ask your local retailer to order it for you. Simple.
@@derekmulready1523 What does that have to do with the packaging and why would he pay a middle man when he doesn't have to?
@@kanikavuthy9465 what about China?
@@kanikavuthy9465 most products are made in China and shipped to distributors elsewhere for branding and packaging purpose.
I worked in the recycling industry a long time ago and it was evident to me back then that producers, consumers and waste recyclers must work together to make recycling successful. Back then there was next to no open discussion between the three and it looks like not much has change after almost 30 years. It looks like AI robots will have to rescue humans from themselves....and that's a scary thought. 😕
could probably require manufacturers to take pictures of their products in several states(intact, cut up, crushed) and submit them to a database that these robots use to determine their make up. even small QR codes or Machine Identification Code that would not stand out to consumers.
If RF tech ever became cheap enough then barcodes would disappear and it'd be very easy to recycle components in packaging. Recycling is a fake industry. If the environment genuinely concerned governments then it'd be like the military, police, and fire services, essentials stripped of any profit motive. We're a consumerist capitalist society profit driven to the eventual point of extinction. In a mere blink we've poured more waste into the planet than in any other period in mans existence. Are we the next extinction phase, driven by our own greed, and stupidity?
Or maybe an rfid one everything! Great idea.
@@brynleytalbot778 why would you add more unneccesary waste by adding RFID chips (copper wire, micro CPU chips) ?? Just use IR ink and print large QR codes on the packaging, which can be seen by cameras, but not by consumers.
I think you're on to something there lad.
@@brynleytalbot778 The flaw in your argument is that you are failing to see at what point humans change their minds. We are not consumers by nature, we are simply selfish. However, we are only selfish because the rules of capitalism force us to be. The important point is that our behaviour is not static, but constantly evolving. Thus, when the problem (environmental change) starts to effect us (like literally right now) then we'll change everything we're doing in order to go back to our place of consumeristic comfort.
4:05 I dont think the "city" should get so much, after the company is kind of doing them a favor by keeping this burden out of the city's shoulders.
City should be pay for plastics because city don’t provide nothing but wasted life nothing city does that helps only destruction
50/50 ?
I think that too. The city is killing the business
The problem is at the start: the convenience of the consumers. Everyone should separate their waste into different bins and pay waste management by weight. Make the producers of packaging responsible for recycling when they package things in three different layers of plastic, cardboard and such.
I live in San Francisco, and I have seen a lot of people are careless, they are not separating the trash and recycling, they dumb everything into the trash bin or recycle bin and they even dumped the plastic containers into composting bin.
why aren't manufacturers and packaging producers making their products easier to sort? Eg starbucks could incorporate visible markings like barcodes identifying paper or plastic cups. They should also recognise the value of the raw materials they use and pay for the recycling thus reducing the burden on cities eg amazon pays to recycle cardboard boxes and in turn receives recycled cardboard for reuse
Or don't buy in places that produce too much garbage, like starbucks. You can make your own coffee in your house or job with your own cup and spoon.
Baljeet Bhachu Exactly - we need LAWS to enforce every producer has a recycling lifecycle for all the products they create and put into the world 🌎- that eventually go into the landfill 🌎 🗑 .
@@fenrirgg that'll never work, too logical:)
@@cybair9341 no, that is stupid, more robots on the otherhand:)
@@bthemedia totally agree. Consumers and government bodies shouldn't bear the brunt when the fatcats have the deep pockets.
Learned a lot. Let's make the consumer more responsible so we don't have to spend so much money down the line.
Or go further and make the manufacturer more responsible i.e. minimizing packing
@@justlove05 Let them only use Amazon boxes. They'll end up in there anyhow.
lets make the Manufacturers AND the consumer more responsible... particularly the manufacturers, ultimately in a free market society the consumers will never have a desire to be responsible, if the manufacturers are though that provides more convenience on the consumer and if their items are easier to reuse and or recycle then you will see the consumer reuse and recycle more.
why? wont it be easier to attack the problem at its root? force the manufacturer of goods to package more conscientiously.
maybe awareness, if responsible that means someone has to monitor, manage implement, and then result on higher taxes
2:14 The garbage barge (Mobro) Marlboro 4000 Most likely had 3000 tons of garbage, 3000 pounds of garbage is a large dumpster.
Ko
Haha I just came to make same comment, good catch , wcolby
3,000 pounds would be a small dumpster, about two yards.
1 ton is defined as 2,240 pounds in the US. Which means 3000 tons is around 6.7 MILLION pounds.
@@cephalonsadistic9331 : a U.S ton is 2,000 pounds. A "long ton/tonne" is a metric ton = 1,000 kilograms. 3,000 U.S. tons = 6 million pounds.
The CEO of Waste Connections nailed it when he said they were looking out for the investors. Nothing is about doing the right thing. It's ultimately about the investors.
8 streams of wastes: 1. Paper 2. Plastic 3. Metal 4. Glass 5. E-waste 6. Bio-hazards/contaminated wastes 7. Wood/textiles/composites 8. Compostables
9. Ceramics 10. Wires (plastic+ little a non-magnetised copper) 11. Bubble-gums and balons 12. Water-plants waste 13. Gypsum and asbestos 14. Nappies 15. Home chemicals waste 16. Batteries 17. Pizza insulated boxes and milk tetrapacs (it's not a paper and not compostable)
@@aucklandnewzealand2023 Bubble-gums and balons would fall under Ruber right? Also Wires fall under E-waste.
9:Trump
Don't forget tiktok girls
9. used cooking oil you really can't put it with anything else
just be more like Japan. Sort your damn recycling.
Americans too individualistic for that
IKR. And yeah, jack up the price for trash, and they'll all individualistically choose to recycle better.
Its not recycling they burn most of it
@the boi it's true Japanese do what they are told like "fly this plane and crash it with you still inside"
@@redhidinghood9337 What exactly does individualism have to do with recycling? Also: to +Kenneth FC - Japan's % of trash recycled- 19. America's % of trash recycled- 35. That's according to OECD (www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/9789264235199-14-en.pdf?expires=1566484299&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=06CF9E20D2C7FB2FA72D22BA407DA258 ). Do you have a better statistic or did I just catch you lying?
This is how it works. If cities run recyclables then they have to pay workers, benefits and pensions, out of the city's coffers. If they contract a company to handle garbage/recyclables then city's collect taxes from the corporate contractor and they get a piece of profits for items like aluminum, paper, glass and other metals. So, rather then bring a large expense, it become a moderate revenue stream. That's how cities look at garbage/recycling. ☮️
not choosing to spend probably 0.1% of tax money to recycling trash is a bit concerning
Did you not see the cut the cities take. Let the market deal with this. China refused. Price went up. It then allows US companies to develop tech to bring the prices back down. The govt should out. Every industry where the govt is involved, the price keeps going up (education, infrastructure, medical), private markets bring prices down relative to quality in the long term (tech, electronics, commodities).
Agreed what's also concerning is how dependant we are on china.
You need to spend 750 billion per year on the military whats that %?
@@MrLoobu the carbon footprint of the military industrial complex kzhead.info/sun/orGoqt2rp3irdYU/bejne.html numbers still underestimated for obvious reasons...
@@MrLoobu less then 3% of the budget lol
This is good. We should also looked at encouraging manufacturer to design things so they are: 1- more recyclable. (Less mixed materials, easier to identify material, etc.) 2- more reuseable. 3- less harmful should it end up in a landfill or environment. Some informing the public would also be good on the importance and simple things that can be done to make it easier for their stuff to get recycled.
I've been thinking about waste management a lot recently. I think that it'd be prudent to charge manufacturers for their packaging. An amount for recyclable, more for non, and overall it'd reduce companies that put multiple layers of packaging. Some things have way more packaging than required, but we, as consumers, don't have an option.
This is funny. I use to work at a recycling facility. The problem with machines is it takes a full crew of men to fix and program them. Another issue they had was how slow the machines worked. It couldn't keep up with the volume. I'd be interested in seeing how they work out all the bugs.
Reduce and reuse! I like that... Finally a CNBC video that is simply journalism and not biased BS. Thanks.
"3000 lbs of garbage" @2:14 Probably meant tons.
I caught that also. I am thinking you are right must be tons.
When comes to the units, measure and numbers, there are always many mistakes. 3000 lbs does not make a sense.
Obviously 3000 Stones
I was always dubious about "single stream recycling". It has to get sorted somewhere, and if it can't be sorted it's going into the landfill no matter what container you put it in. That destroys any gains in recycling rates that the convenience to customers created. I"m glad my city kept two-stream recycling and has even added a 3rd category for food scraps. Materials are only useful when free of contaminants.
Correct ! I walked past a friend's bin. I saw trashbags with foodwaste, recyclable items, diapers, etc. I asked why they did not have a separate recycle bin. She told me, the company said it all gets recycled where it ends up. 😞
@@mainemavin That's the sort of person who spills food on the floor, and says "let the cleaning staff earn their pay"
@@HansLemurson - ohmygosh ! I AM a cleaning person with clients like this.
You might start by explaining what "clean" means in the recycling world. I only recently learned that my recyclable plastic has not been "clean" even though I rinsed the container out before recycling. I had been leaving the cap and cap tamper-evident ring still attached to the clear plastic bottle. They are made of different types of plastic as evidenced by the number within the triangular recycle symbol stamped on each piece of plastic when it was manufactured. I noticed the little girl @15:36 was not made aware and this video didn't inform me either. Many people would make such a minor adjustment prior to recycling. I know I have.
You get a sharp knife and cut that piece free. 15 secs work extra.
Long before barcodes, I worked as a grocery store stocker & bagger. So now everything has a barcode. Why not incorporate sorting info into the barcodes.
Too slow
How do you propose to quickly sort by bar code? You would need every piece of recycling to have the barcode facing up, no crushed bottles, cans or boxes. Its just not practical.
@@jimyarbrough9935 Good points! Even now, though, some containers are coded to enable matching with recycle-center bins (helpful both to those depositing recyclables & to the staff laboring to get them all in order). Maybe this (complex local, regional, national, & global) work (on a small & finite planet) could be incrementally moved forward. (It wasn’t so terribly long ago, e.g., that the Wright brothers made the first 1st powered flight.)
Could work, just need clear conveyor belts incase the code is on the bottom
My GF is always taking the labels off of plastic bottles because she thinks they will go straight to the landfill if it has a label when recycled. AKA the label has the barcode.
We need to sort our own trash before sending it out, also use hemp to make containers ans paper products!
Possibly cellophane, too.
@Bert Dasher I don't think you have that right. The Wiki entry says it's 100% biodegradable. It's production with carbon disulfide is toxic, though.
everyone should have the responsibility to recycle including the tiny trash . Germany is really a good example,sets a standard for citizens
Shiuan Dai unfortunately it isn’t that good in Germany, we have mostly separate garbage bins for paper, plastic and organic, Glas is brought to collection stations also for plastic bottles there is a deposit, but...burning wast is also classified as recycling. It’s still better then landfill which is not allowed in Germany, burning generates energy at least but we there is a lot of toxic wast out of the burning process. Also wast was sold to China as well. In general a lot of our wast can’t be recycled at all, so the best is to reduce packaging and wast whenever you can
More importantly we consume less, less plastic, less water, less energy ... for a better standard of living than in the US!
philippe chevereau because Germany is smaller than the US
Balla Jallow - well, I am not talking that much in absolute value and pro capita. Look at all metrics, the consumption of the US is a multiple -again per capita- of all similar economies of the OECD! ... it is basic way of life, no need for a truck when a sedan dies the job, no need for a pint coke when half is enough, same for the AC, same for the water flush ... whatever is initiated in the US, so far, has been driven by assured cheap consumable and uneducated ie a population brainwashed into consumerism!
philippe chevereau well at least you guys call it recycling when all it ever was sending your waste to China
AI sorting trash instead of annihilating mankind, I approve
I live in Vancouver BC. We sort the waste into 1)blue bin - recyclable containers I.e., plastic bottles, takeout containers etc 2)green bin for organic waste 3) grey bin- class bottles, recyclable glass products 4) yellow bag- for mixed paper 5) blue bag for newspaper 6) garbage bin The first 5 are collected weekly and the garbage bin is collected every 2 weeks.
Only small numbers using those facilities. 90% don't sort their trash because lazy, selfish and most of all ignorant....
"Ballistic air". Even air is becoming tactical now.
Have to make this sound appealing to the simple folk out there somehow.
I Had 2 Do This Job As A Prisoner On Work Release On Lackawanna Country 🤦🏾♂️🤷🏽♂️ This Is One Job The Robots Can HAVE 😂
Until now, I thought that was how all recyclables were sorted.
Pride in every job
For what have you been in prison?
@@jurgendebruijne hehe good one
@@kimjong-un4574 for not paying fines
In Mexico, there are a couple of national breweries that they ask for the empty glass bottles back in exchange when you purchase more beer. So the bottles get recycled and if you don't have empty ones to trade, they charge you a deposit. So you can return the bottles and get the money back or just keep them for the next time and trade them. Same happens with cocacola products.. you gotta turn in the empty bottles when buying sodas.
That a great approach to waste less and make people cooperate. Win win situation
Nearly all nordic and Scandinavian countries use a glass bottle deposit system. Buy the drink with a 5 cent deposit included in the price and get it back when you recycle it at the store. It works for cans also. Pre sorting is the easiest way to avoid contamination larger communal wast bins colour coded keep everything separate. The also use different trucks for different on different days to collect waste. Monday cardboard and paper, Tuesday bio waste, Wed plastic etc that way the waste is managed more effectively.
Why does the city always take 75%?
They have to keep buying those votes and pay the Unions, so politicians can stay in Office.
Somebody has to pay for all the free stuff Democrats promise.
@@hse6144 Or maybe someone has to pay for the roads and commonly used social amenities that we all use which Republicans don't think government should pay for.
Night King except every single democrat city has crumbling roads and infrastructure. How’s the water in Flint?
@@hse6144 : a REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR forced the changed water source. Thanks for playing, numbnutz.
In germany, we do recycling since 1990, the so called "green dot". Greetings from germany
Der Grune Punkt, Duales System Deutschland. Congratulations Germany from Seattle, Washington, USA!
The "green dot" has nothing to do with recycling. It's about prepaying the trash handling costs for packaging and keeping that out of communal trash processing.
Government officials are all LIARS who use statistics as tool of propaganda and consent. Germany is cheating like the U.S. and other countries do by manipulating the data. They export millions of tonnes of plastics abroad dumping them into third world countries.
The Amazon cardboard boxes I use them as storage for my video games,small gadgets etc. I would at time also just put them at the recycling container but if I see a use I will do and if don't well I won't use
It seems like Amazon would be smart and have a reusable box...like a hard plastic bin goods are shipped in...then they are returned to be reused. Put a barcode on every box...when they ship it to you you get charged a small fee then when it is returned you get a refund. I guess this increases shipping costs with more weight..but you don't have to keep making boxes.
Wow, brilliant.
"What is my purpose?" "Pass the butter."
Pick out the aluminium cans
"Reduce and reuse so you don't have to recycle."
Only right way. But people like shiny things.
or at least try to minimize recycling as much as possible so we don't have to resort to it as much.
Chevron Phillips Chemical's new $6 billion plastic manufacturing plant in Sweeny, Texas. Oil companies plan to triple plastic output in a few years. Consumers can't keep pace. We need gov't to step in and make virgin plastic less marketable, invest in tech etc..
Please just put glass metal plastic and paper in different bins.
but americans are lazy
Governments unfortunately don't have the luxury of operating along ideals like this. Many people outright refuse to do so and or miss-categorize what is recyclable. It likely costs less to build these intelligent systems than to enforce and educate.
I try to still recycle as much as i can
That depends of your county is a zero sort recycling. Our recycling truck just shoves everything into one truck.
@@btfrost They could integrate this in addition to the systems and put recycling into the education system. That way more children can learn to recycle from a young age and if someone doesn't do it correctly the recycling still gets sorted and recycled. While the costs would be more expensive for something like this, larger cities could do this, the result being as or more beneficial as using just the systems.
Wait when did CNBC start uploading such good content on youtube?
i think that standardization will somehow help in the major problem of separating the trash. There should be a few types of trash only so that separation by machine will be easier. Giving people many choices also gives us many problems. It should at least be when it comes to packaging not the product itself at least.
Excellent - agree fully.
I'm losing track of how many awesome CNBC videos I've watched now. Awesome! Subbed 😁😁😁
I think we should be aggregating our glass into our concrete. Concrete takes so much energy to produce, silicates work well when added to the material, as well as being able to add color. We have so much free material around.
@Ashley C At least give them an argument, Ashley.
As a skateboarder I can tell you not only does glass asphalt slow us down if I hit a patch of rough terrain while moving I can be thrown off immediately. Maybe it better overall but Im guessing Im not the only person within this solution to be universal.
@@blocka4 Yes, so important ¡
Glass in concrete causes fast tire wear.
Think she meant to say 3000 tons
For example I’d be down for a refill system for drinks. Milk. Ect. Go back to reusable glass bottles go to store. Turn in empties for credit and pick up a new 6 pack.
So really, there are 3 options to consider and put forward, either separately or combined: 1) Force manufacturers world wide to produce easy recognizable packaging that is at least similar. Like color coding or certain shapes that robots or sensors can detect 2) Educate, provide and enforce recycling, while also making it easier for the population to do so 3) Reduce the amount of garbage in the first place, like our town banned ALL plastic bags, ergo adapt stores and packaging to lifestyle. Use REUSABLE containers or multi-use containers There are many more options, but these 3 feel like they have the biggest impact imho. You can charge a household for recurring recycling faults and finance the waste management with these "fines". We have it way too easy already, when it comes to buying things and throwing away our garbage, but we should also NOT held responsible for over-packaging. A box in a box in a clam shell, wrapped in plastic... What sucks is, that not all plastic is recyclable and useful.
Excellent ideas. I started years ago - hardly needed a rubbish bin - one full bag of plastic wrapping only and the occasional pushbike tire. Compost bins in the garden and if too much is produced put in green bins to take away already composted. I have about 2 feet of rich soil from composting over the years. A friend of mine got delivered free mulch from the council and free lawn clippings and covered his whole backyard a couple of feet. he could grow everything - fruit trees, pistachios, tomatoes grew wild, everything. Recycling becomes part of the lifestyle - it has to be done anyway and takes minimal effort - a few minutes here and there. Most problems facing recycling industries are the public acting irresponsibly or being uninformed /uneducated.
@@hj179 having the space to compost is definitely the way to go!
Good research and nice interviews. Next time, please don’t replay the exact same clip twice in the video. Repetition wastes our time. Thank you
YES...More would watch if it was 5 minutes...so I'd be more likely to "SHARE" the video
Oh that was the same clip? I thought I just accidently clicked back in the video
A little passive aggressive there lol
Might even consider it recycled material
You are watching you tube, for crying out loud! just how much is your time worth?
The problem is the lack of responsibility from people by not separating the different materials at home.
Not a lot of people have the option nowadays single stream recycling is the only way its collected in most communities.
We need just one material. One that will cover all aspects of Packaging, Etc. That ought to cut recycling down.
Hemp?
@@bournefromscrap2408 It's a good idea but there's a fair amount of people allergic to hemp. I do think our paper market should move primarily to hemp-based paper instead of tree-based because then we could stop/slow deforestation, but it would need to be clearly marked so no one gets sent to the hospital for anaphylactic shock!
Thats actually not as helpful as you might think. Cardboard is an excellent material for many things and when its dry almost completely recyclable. Yet add just a little oil stain and you ruin a whole batch. It makes me happy when I see pizza places putting wax paper under the pizza. The whole box can be recycled. If it has oil stains the best disposal is incineration. But how do you effectively separate these two? Film plastics are not recyclable as a polymer but they could be gasified and reprocessed quite effectively if the facilities existed for it. These facilities are extremely expensive and there's only a few in the entire US. Meanwhile the exact same materials that are thicker can be recycled.
Actually great idea, or also requiring different plastics to have a specific color/pattern could help too to make sorting easier
My first thought was to reduce the variety of inbound waste. If we switched over to just boxed water for example, it would reduce the different types of waste to be sorted. If we could get all packaging simplified to a handful of types, there would be less sorting needed.
What do they do with the computers' temperature? Some companies use it to heat water and sell it to the neighbors. Amazing!
I've send it before but CNBC makes the best mini documentaries out there. Having said that when you said recycling sorting robots I was expecting to see Wall-E
Love this! Please keep posting videos like these!
Why do you need the Lügenpresse for that? There are thousands of companies making much more detailed videos about their services and products.
Here's a thought: Don't make the crap to begin with.
Barry Branton Every time I walk into a department store like Walmart I say to myself this is a giant landfill waiting to happen. ...... consumerism is our problem
@@alexf800 theres a reddit page called r/BuyItForLife and i agree with that sentiment products shouldn't be made of materials that have a lifespan over 300% of the use of the product we need the casing around a nuclear reactor to last for more than a hundred years, not drink lids i have these jump boots i pushed my toe into the heel so much the sole is coming off, so im going to make a steel guard for nails and reglue i dont want to live a disposible life because its unnecessary my needs can be met with products that have long lives there are "quick charge" single use battery packs that have perfectly good batteries that people are encouraged to throw out and i kinda want to just make a buisness that refirbishes batteries like that for repeted use just to sate my OCD and keep usable lithium batteries on the market
Cleaning glass and recycling cardboard costs more than just throwing plastic away. Most consumers like cheap stuff and convenience and everything we buy/consume is artificially cheaper because capitalism externalizes the true costs of manufacturing to poor countries and or the environment for lower costs and maximum profits. Capitalism demands infinite growth on a planet with finite resources. The only way to rectify capitalist profit with minimal impact to the environment is through tough laws and higher costs for everything. That's political suicide for any legislator...
Its all about over-packaging
How about giving up your entire way of life and going back to Victorian era! Sounds like a lot of fun! Dying of preventable diseases.
Automated recyclng is already happening in various parts of Europe, including where I live.
Yes here in Europe in most countries in Europe at least have automated processes of waste sorting and recycling.. America has a problem with their recycling system that's based on profits over long term goal of actually reducing waste in best way possible..
What country do you live in may I ask?
@@olitesla5891 The Netherlands.
Morph Verse cool my uncle lives in Amsterdam
...And, the US is behind yet again. But we are the world's only, uh, super power...
It sounds like we also need regulation for companies, like Starbucks, to make products (i.e coffee cups) which are more friendly to recycling processes.
They're made out of paper -- what more do you want?
@@TruckTaxiMoveIt The video mentions Starbucks makes their cups out of paper in some cases, and also plastic, so that smart recycling vision systems have a huge problem because they can't discern between the two which otherwise look identical.
In Australia we have 2 bins one green for general waste and a yellow bin we fill with recyclable materials. We also get 10c for drinking containers at collection points.
what if you dumped the garbage in a large container with water and use ultrasonic to emulsify the paper back to pulp thus eliminating half the trash there. the puld could then be pressed into a form suitable for burning as fuel to power a steam boiler. then all that is left is the plastics and metals, and it looks like they got that figured out. I never knew you could magnetically repel aluminum.. fascinating
Plastics can also be incinerated
8:17 you guys are repeating yourselves
12:00 as well
They went alittle too far from the point of the story and needed to reorient you towards the robot recyclers story. But yeah @12 min its definitively repeating.
The topic deserves reiteration obviously!
They're repeating themselves?
"They took our jeeerbbbbbssss"
I‘m from Austria and we have 3-4 bins paper, „Restmüll“ (gets incinerated) and yellow (plastic and metal, sometimes separated)
Great to see CNBC covering Recycling and why cities are facing new challenges and using new technology👍
Why are cities getting a single dime when they don’t have anything to do with the recycling process?
Because a lot of useless people would be out of a job otherwise.
What job left after destruction
Yup, I am doing my best to reduce, but my parents generation they just can't stop buying plastic and stuff period.
Esmeralda Loredo same here. My parents don’t seem to understand. So really its up to a 13 year old to change the way that stupid generation does things in this household
America has also big problem that ppl buy water from shops in plastic bottles... In finland we have refund system where you can return the bottles to the shop and get money to use again in the shop so over 95% bottles are recycled
The problem is there isn't a lot of non-plastic alternatives. Even bringing your own container to the meat deli, they have to use plastic sheets to scoop the meat. There's also the matter of convenience and expenses, which is more appealing- driving farther than usual to buy groceries that cost more or one close by that is cheaper. At the very least, collect and sort your recyclables instead of throwing it all into one bin.
@@schwartzy65 USA used to have that but the environmental nazis stopped that long ago
you need to recycle your parents too
There is one stream that we changed in our own lives. When we shop we bring canvass and burlap based grocery bags with us. In fact some supermarkets cut you a couple of percent off if you do that. And it reduces the amount of plastic bags that go into the waste stream. Now for me I use re-usable plastic containers that can be washed and re-used. All the lights in the place are LED based so there's that too. But solving the amount of plastic that still goes into the waste stream is a harder nut to crack.
Wow!! San Fransisco! I'm super impressed by your sorting system and big goals of zero waste. Congrats and hope you can make that a reality!
Thanks! We're trying!
lol San Franshitsco has a human waste problem on their streets. What are they going to do about that?
At some point; it will be lucrative to recycle the raw materials that are in land fills. Robots doing the sorting. 100% profit potential.
Exactly! Landfills will essentially become mines.
100%? Let’s not forget that robots are so difficult to make, especially efficient ones as the video stresses. It’s extremely expensive to develop such robots so no, it’s not just profit. :)
It is still lucrative right now
Very UNLIKELY - faulty logic. No, robots cannot “clean” our landfills into recycling. That would be VERY expensive and likely impossible... much easier and cheaper to build and ensure a recycling lifecycle for all products as they are produced. Force Humans to “do the right thing”.
Computer User “fines” over imprisonment, as the problem is economics and convenience to pollute & fill landfills.
Where's Captain Planet and the Planeteers when you need them?
Their adversaries got jobs in the Trump administration.
In my underwear
cfltheman Ha,Ha...That a good one because now all the major trash needed recycling are coming out of Donald Trump mouth and the revolving door of peoples,who are going through at in his Administration.
You been watching without attention (recycling) "Power is yours"
@@hyberqb169 you've been assuming too much. And you know what happens when people assume.
Here are a few ideas: 1. Introduce dual or triple stream recycling. Presorting drops the costs of recycling down enormously. 2. put a per ton tax on landfill waste, a lower tax on incineration per ton, and a deductible (or negative tax) on recycling. Use the money raised to improve recycling infrastructure. 3. put a 5 cent tax on mixed material packaging. Encourage companies to use a single material, making it easier to recycle. Use the money raised again to improve recycling infrastructure.
Why not just stop using the single stream recycling?
That reduces the amount that Americans recycle. If people have to sort it they’re less likely to recycle and will just place it in the trash.
@@NickCBax That's why you limit the amount of bags/trash they can throw out each week. forcing people to recycle.
BubberGroves then they just illegally dump it somewhere
@@NickCBax Why not implementing stick and carrot policy? Starting with the manufacturers
Do both, *just* is an error. If robots learn to classify at a very high speed, it could lead to a detail separation at a very low cost, increasing the value and allowing us to recycle stuff that we can't today. Also we do have lazy people.
Seems ironic that the recycling agents are more concerned with making payments to investors before the actual recycling takes place, just goes to prove that it is always about the money.
Take more responsibilities and separate your recyclables! That's all.
not all but a good start!!
no, that is not all. note the 3 R's. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. when you see that symbol with the 3 arrows that's what each arrow indicates, and it's about reducing the amount of waste we produce, reusing certain things so they can find a different purpose, last longer, and be less likely to get thrown out, then recycling so the materials can be used again even if there's so many uses. but overall, we need to cut down on waste in general so there's less trash, and we need to find better ways to dispose of trash so it's better for the environment.
Even if you separate your recycling, if the company who picks it up is single stream than it get mixed back up
Thank you this was very helpful and informative 👍👍
Consumers must discover and pay the true life-cycle costs of products, including disposal and recycling fees.
Is this the same smart Lily on Jeopardy?
You're right. I was trying to remember where I saw her from.
Man, good memory!!!
Good memory! Can confirm that it's me in this video. If you'd like to learn more about my research, please check out either this KZhead channel or my website - lillych.in . Thanks for the support!
I think it would be easier just mandating all recyclable items with a QR code with its composition. So when it gets the facility it just reads the item and knows where to go.
Amazing. Thank you for this step forward!
I just wanted to say that the familiar face you saw was a [college] jeopardy champ!
In several parts of Europe they have multiple cans for recycling and have been know since 1981 for plastics base on color and type Glass Tin Aluminum Paper Cardboard Tree limbs Leaves When there separated to begin with then picked up only once a month placed into completely separate bins it saves tons of man hours and greatly increases the quality It’s because we are lazy
8:17 that clip was earlier in the video.. I think there would be massive benefits on making things to be easier to be recycled; it seems like manufacturers just use whatever they feel like instead of using stuff that would be easier to be post processed. There's design for manufacturing, now we need design for recycling
San Francisco: "The goal is to recycle 100% of the waste." Everyone else: "You're going to recycle the entire city?"
We need to use standardized packaging, durable and reusable. Just different container wrapping for labels.
We do have standards I believe you want less variety and that's not going to happen as a country gets more wealthy it gives itself more options not less
Tons of amazon boxes. I’d say put a redemption value on those just like bottles
Love this. I always wonder how recycling happens
Just use the paper and the cardboard to supplement the natural gas/biogas power generation. Then mix the ash with dewatered sludge from the water reclamation plants and green wastes to make compost, or skip the compost and use the ash and sludge mixture to cover the waste in a landfill.
34.7% is a genuinely awful recycling rate. Europe has an average of 60%.
Blind Squid we have toccyange their mindset. Maybe you should change your username from blind before you post negative comments.
Blind Squid blind republican views.
Hi, I am Finland, and I`ve been recycling for many years already using different types of technologies, why not use them instead of "rediscovering America"?
Probably because the entire population of Finland is comparable to any American major city. Anyway, the US actually performs slightly better than Finland in terms of percentage of waste recycled (35% vs 33%). The big difference is that Finland incinerates 42% for power generation, compared to the US at 12%. That percentage we don't burn goes to the landfill. We used to burn alot more, but environmental regulations have made it almost impossible now.
@@joshua43214 I agree with what you said. Yes, Finland is good at the incineration of waste for energy purposes, i.e. water heating and producing electricity. Sad that in the US most of that waste which could be used for power generation goes to the landfill :(
Nikita Evdokimov are you finland??
Meow meow meow meow
Yeah,even in clean sweden they are fooling people to separate waste, for example: clear glass, green glass and brown glass, but when I saw the truck coming to empty the bins they just emtied all the bins together on the same truck and probably tok it to a landfill, that was when I stopped separating the waste.
This is high quality news, thanks CNBC
I've always said that many more refundable taxes on recyclables would make a dent.
Huh?
I guess it's time to revert back to separating recyclables at residential homes. Give us back the separate bins for paper, plastic, and metals.
There should be a law that the bottle caps have to be made of the same material as the bottle. Lazy ppl. Need 3 or 4 stream recycling. We need more organic matter recycling aka compost. Grocery stores should sell some as animal freed. Process this type of trash with sewage and many products could be produced fuel and fertilizer which is much better than synthetic.
Or as human "freed." Purina human chow. Chow, chow, chow. ♡ T.E.N.
I'm not trash!!! Trash gets taken out!
The problem needs to be approached from a different angle. Instead of putting the burden of sorting materials on the waste companies, manufacturers need to standardize product manufacturing and packaging to include some type of an identifier like RFID which will include the material composition etc. so robots can use that and not having to rely on a billion different sensors.
Perfect job for a machine