Contamination is when unwanted objects or materials are placed in a container. The example above shows garbage bags contaminating a cardboard recycling container. The Pello system analyzes images captured from camera sensors and provides real time alerts on contamination events.

But what is “contamination anyway?

• Recycing Containers – when unwanted items are placed in recycling containers this called contamination. Contamination means that the recyclable material is mixed with non recyclable items (aka the contaminants). When this happens it can mean extra time and labour to sort the contents of the container or in some cases if there is too much contamination the entire recycling bin will be dumped as waste. Bottom line – recycling contamination increases the cost to sort recycling material and decreases waste diversion.
• Waste Containers – contamination in waste bins is similar to recycling contamination but more broad. Cardboard boxes that should be placed in a recycling bin are a common waste container contamination item.
• Dumping – often contamination in both waste and recycling bins can be traced back to illegal dumping. Unsecured containers are often used by the general community to dispose of waste items. Using the Pello system users can quickly identify which containers need to be secured to avoid becoming public dump bins.