Cities across China are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance garbage sorting, transforming waste into valuable recyclable materials.
In south China's Guangzhou City, a waste compression station has introduced AI-powered sorting machine equipped with hyperspectral imaging technology. The system scans every piece of plastic and precisely classifies materials that are difficult for the human eye to distinguish, automatically putting them into different categories.
"The machine can accurately separate materials that were previously indistinguishable to the human eye, such as PP (polypropylene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and HDPE (high-density polyethylene). It can also separate waste plastic films according to their different materials," said He Tingxuan, head of AI sorting technology at Xinke Waste Compression Station.
Since its pilot implementation, the AI-powered sorting machine has processed 26,000 tons of raw waste, separating more than 10,000 tons of recyclables and saving 1.7276 million yuan (about 254,500 U.S. dollars) in garbage processing fees.
In east China's Xiamen City, a garbage sorting center has also adopted AI technology to efficiently recycle low-value recyclables such as fast food boxes, express delivery packaging bags, and milk cartons. The center can process up to 50 tons of such materials daily.
"We use visual recognition and infrared scanning technologies to automatically identify and decompose low-value recyclables, including waste plastics and wastepaper. We can produce 16 different types of recyclable products, with a sorting accuracy rate of over 95 percent," said Nian Minmo, general manager of Xiamen Haicang Investment Group Municipal Company.
China aims to raise its urban household waste recycling utilization rate to above 76 percent by the end of 2030, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said Monday.
The announcement came as the country launched its fourth national urban household waste sorting publicity week, running from May 25 to 31.
AI technology empowers garbage sorting process
China's latest round of mineral exploration has delivered strong results, with substantial new reserves of oil, gas and key metals added so far this year, a breakthrough in an ongoing push to underpin the country's advanced manufacturing industry, officials said on Tuesday.
"The new round of exploration has produced encouraging outcomes. From January to August, China was added with nearly 70 million tons of recoverable oil reserves and 610 billion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas reserves. Meanwhile, new resource volumes at the Chating copper-gold mine in [east China's] Anhui Province and the Zhugongtang lead-zinc mine in [southwest China's] Guizhou Province have reached super-large scale," said Liu Guohong, secretary of the ministry's Committee of Communist Party of China, at a press conference in Beijing.
Looking ahead, leading officials of the ministry noted that demand for critical mineral resources will continue to grow during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). To meet that demand, China will press ahead with its strategic mineral exploration drive, secure the supply of essential minerals and provide solid support for the development of advanced manufacturing.
"The primary requirements for mineral exploration are to clarify the basic geological conditions of the country and identify areas where minerals may be found. To that end, we will implement a national geological mapping plan, raise the coverage of 1:50,000 regional geological surveys on land to 51 percent, and increase the coverage of mineral geological surveys in key metallogenic belts to 66 percent, so as to gain a clear picture of our resource and energy base," said Zhou Xing, vice minister of Natural Resources.
The leading officials said exploration will focus on minerals in short supply such as petroleum, iron, copper and aluminum, while also covering rare earths and other minerals where China holds an edge. A number of key exploration and extraction projects will be launched, and more large and medium-sized mineral deposits and oil and gas fields are expected to be discovered.
China will steadily advance the construction of some 300 energy and resource bases, significantly raise the self-sufficiency rate of strategic minerals, and boost the country's resource security.
At the same time, authorities will continue to reassess existing resources and unlock the potential of low-grade and hard-to-process mineral resources.
China reports major gains in mineral exploration drive
