By Luka Osborne

It’s no secret that Sydney Harbour is one of Australia’s most iconic waterways. A marine wonderland, Sydney’s premier waterway is an international symbol of Australia’s post-card-perfect views. Traditionally the home of the Eora people, it’s home to over 3000 unique animal species, such as the Port Jackson Shark. The harbour’s wildlife has to share residence with humans, and unfortunately, recent years have taken their toll. Litter and debris choke the waterway at a staggering rate, with the CSIRO collecting 3500 cubic metres annually with current technology. In recycling terms that’s 44,000 wheelie bins.

Now imagine the tonnes of waste not collected, that sinks to the seabed or floats out to the ocean. Luckily, the CSIRO has devised a new state-of-the-art project to clean up Sydney Harbour using artificial intelligence.

The CSIRO has devised a new plan to clean up Sydney Harbour using the latest in machine learning technology.

The CSIRO is Australia’s national science agency, which is driven by finding innovative solutions to the country’s most pressing challenges – including environmental pollution. So when they say they’re using AI to clean up Sydney Harbour, are they talking about humanoid robot divers with pool cleaners?

Well, not quite.

The project will see the launch of a new fleet of cameras that use machine learning to count plastic bags, and a system of smart sensors installed in ‘gross pollutant traps’ (yes, they’re actually called that). The traps will be installed in strategic locations around the harbour, and act like underground rubbish bins, however, when they get full, litter can escape.

That’s where the sensors come in, they let the smart folks at the CSIRO know when there’s too much rubbish in the traps and when they require maintenance. Artificial intelligence will be used to spot the different types of litter moving through the harbour’s arterials – it’s smart enough to tell a chip packet from a drink bottle.

The aim of the program is to make the traps more efficient, cost-effective and protect our harbour’s marine wildlife, as well as provide data to the agencies monitoring the waterways so that they can spot litter hot spots.

The new program will be implemented by the Sydney Coastal Councils Group, the Parramatta River Catchment Group and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority co-funded by the NSW Government. The data collected will help inform the agencies monitoring the waterways on how best to collect and dispose of the waste. The new tech will also help operators understand what intervention and community education methods might work to prevent the rubbish from ending up in Sydney Harbour in the first place.

Time to clean up Country

The CSIRO’s harbour cleanup project is critical, as it helps to protect marine ecosystems from harm and prevent pollution from entering the food chain. By using innovative technology to remove litter from the seabed, they’re helping to restore the health of Sydney Harbour’s waterways. It’s an important step towards cleaning up country and protecting the environment for future generations, something we feel strongly about at Envirobank. Thanks CSIRO! For more information, head to their website.

If you’d like to set your own trap for bottles and cans at your home or business check out our Pickup Service. Recycling with Envirobank ensures every eligible bottle and can collected remains in the circular economy, not in landfill and certainly not in Sydney Harbour!

By Luka Osborne