1 . Not much trash and almost no plastic actually gets recycled. About a third of U.S. garbage gets recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent estimate. The rest goes to landfills, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and pollute their surroundings.
To make recycling easier, many U.S. cities don’t ask Americans to separate paper, glass, metal and plastic. ‘They just ask people to put anything recyclable into one bin and let waste plants do the sorting. But waste plants don’t catch everything. AI is now an essential tool for the world’s waste management leaders. Greyparrot, a tech company has already installed more than l00 AI trash spotters in about 50 sorting facilities.
Greyparrot’s device is, basically, a set of visual and infrared (红外线的) cameras hooked up to a computer, which monitors trash as it passes by on a conveyor belt and labels it under 70 categories, from loose bottle caps to books to aluminum cans. Waste plants could connect these AI systems to sorting robots to help them separate trash from recyclables more accurately. They could also use the AI as a quality control system to measure how well they’re sorting trash from recyclables. That could help plant managers adjust their production lines to cover more recyclables, or cheek that a bundle of recyclables is free of pollutants, which would allow them to sell at a higher price.
In the next few years, some recycling companies plan to retrofit (改良) thousands of material- recovery facilities with Al trash - spotting tools. Of these companies, Bollegraaf has built thousands of these facilities, including 340 in North America, accounting for a majority of the recovery plants in the world.
The trash-spotting computers could one day help regulators punish companies that produce tsunamis of non - recyclable packaging because the AI systems are so accurate that they can identify the brands on individual items. Putting the AI tools in thousands of waste plants can raise recycling percentage. If the needle can be moved by even 5 to 10 percent, that would be a phenomenal outcome for greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact.
1. What does the author want to show in paragraph 1?| A．People pay little attention to environmental protection. |
| B．Greenhouse gas is a major contributor to air pollution. |
| C．Americans show little enthusiasm for recycling. |
| D．All trash has not been recycled in the US. |
| A．By working with sorting robots. |
| B．By adjusting the production line. |
| C．By monitoring the conveyor belt. |
| D．By controlling cameras in a computer. |
| A．They are well received. |
| B．They are highly profitable. |
| C．They have unpredictable prospect. |
| D．They present a challenge for regulators. |
| A．The Use of the Useless |
| B．AI Assistants in Recycling |
| C．A Pressing Trash Issue in US |
| D．AI Tools with Great Potential |
