Trash cans powered by Nvidia Jetson AI chips are a thing now

While we can't speak for trash cans in public establishments around the world, most here in the greater San Francisco bay area are separated into three distinct bins: Landfill, Recycling, and Compost. The problem, however, is that it's not uncommon to see bewildered people standing in front of the bins and not knowing where to toss that burrito wrap or used napkin.

To address the problem, engineers at the startup Intuitive AI have developed a trash can equipped with an Nvidia Jetson TX2 AI module, camera, and speaker to help users properly dispose of waste. The camera automatically scans the item the user is holding while the AI chip attempts to identify the item via machine learning and a private database of waste items called WasteNet. Then, the trash can will signify which bin - Landfill, Recycling, or Compost - the user should toss the waste item into after just a couple of seconds of scanning and recognition.

The creators have claimed that the advanced trash can has already increased recycling by 300 percent in areas where it has been deployed. Check out the official video and original blog post below to see the smart trash can in action.