Last summer, the Rhino Times reported that the Greensboro City Council had accepted a $50,000 grant from the NC Department of Environmental Quality for a program that might be very alarming to privacy advocates. The Rhino reported that the city was installing artificial intelligence software and hardware on some of the city’s recycling trucks – which would use video monitoring, photography and very precise geo-location tags to find those people who are violating the city’s recycling rules.

On Thursday, March 6, 2025, the city announced that our new AI trash and recycling overlords will be getting in contact with those who violate the city’s recycling rules.

This new program is being funded through a Community Waste Reduction and Recycling grant from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and, according to city officials, “It aims to improve curbside recycling by identifying contamination and educating residents in real-time.”

The program is a collaboration between the City of Greensboro, NC DEQ, and Prairie Robotics. The smart cameras, which so far have been installed on three recycling trucks, use visual recognition software and GPS to detect non-recyclable items in curbside bins.

Here’s how it works:

  • As recycling is collected, smart cameras scan your recyclables for contaminants like plastic bags, garbage, yard waste or Styrofoam.
  • Once a contaminant is detected, a photo is taken inside the truck’s hopper, highlighting the non-recyclable item.
  • A personalized postcard is sent to the resident with educational information about proper recycling practices.

According to city officials, “This technology enhances Greensboro’s existing recycling contamination tagging program by automating the process. There are no fines or fees associated with the program, but repeat contamination may result in removal of a resident’s recycling cart.”

They state the system is designed to identify contaminated items only. Beginning this month, residents can expect to receive contamination postcards in their mail with a photo of the non-recyclable item.

However, some residents might not like the idea of government cameras that view and identify every single piece of recycling that they discard.

According to materials submitted to obtain the grant, “Each truck will be equipped with a high-powered GPS tool, an AI-powered camera, and an onboard computer.”

The location tags for each bin dumped into each truck will let the city know exactly which households or businesses are in violation of the city’s disposal rules.

If the program is considered successful, the Greensboro City Council is likely to expand it beyond three trucks, perhaps to all of them.

AI software has become so powerful and fast that the identification accuracy of this particular waste technology is said to be over 99 percent.

According to information about the program, while recycling violations may be hard to detect by human inspectors “at first glance,” the AI software “will inspect a cart’s entire contents.”

As the Rhino Times wrote last summer when it first reported the AI program was coming, “While many see this as a great thing because it will help identify and alert city waste officials as to where the problems are originating from, those who worry about the continuing intrusion of artificial intelligence into personal privacy may be dismayed to learn that their recyclable bins are now the focus of AI video cameras that could conceivably sort out what a person is buying, consuming, drinking or reading …There is absolutely no reason to believe that this is in any way a program that’s meant to ‘spy’ on residents (other than to find the recycling rules offenders) – but there is every reason in the world to believe that these types of technology initiatives expand over the years and end up being used for purposes that were never intended.”

For instance, Amazon Alexa devices weren’t meant to preserve statements to be used as evidence in murder cases, but that doesn’t prevent that from happening.

One current privacy concern is the statement: “Postcards will display an image of non-recyclable items in a resident’s cart alongside the campaign message(s).”

As the Rhino asked last year, “Will a relapsed alcoholic hiding that fact from his wife end up having to explain to her why there’s a postcard in the mail with a picture of an empty glass bourbon bottle in their trash?”

Also, keep in mind that this is a postcard, with a fully visible photograph of some of a person’s trash that may be traveling from the city, through the postal services, to a house, in full view of everyone in the process – including anyone in the household who sees the mail.  Since people often dispose of highly sensitive materials in their recyclable bins, one hopes the city is considering what protections must be put in place to mitigate these types of privacy concerns.

Also, good AI systems can, already, with lightning speed, take in, recognize, categorize and record, any text that passes in front of its cameras. That will not happen in the current phase of AI trash spies in the City of Greensboro, but it’s not hard to imagine a situation in which video or photographs from the new program might be used to solve crimes by identifying when and where a piece of evidence was disposed of.

According to information provided last summer by the city, “The proposed program is divided into 13-week quarterly campaigns. Each campaign will use insights from contamination flagged by the AI software. Residents will have their recycling inspected by AI about six times per quarter (due to bi-weekly recycling collections) and receive personalized feedback regarding the contents of their recycling carts. The first 10 weeks of each campaign will focus on monitoring the system for quality control. In the final three weeks, staff will regroup, design, or edit postcards as needed, and plan for the next campaign.”

For more information on the program, visit www.greensboro-nc.gov/RecycleSmart. To learn more about proper recycling practices, download the GSO Collects app or visit www.greensboro-nc.gov/collects.

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