NEA unveils new AI chatbot 'Bloobin' to help check if items can be recycled

Ever been confused about whether you should toss your used plastic bottle in the blue recycling bin or not?

A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot was unveiled by the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Sep. 16, 2024 for the public to easily check if their items can be recycled.

If recyclable items get contaminated (e.g. someone throwing away food-stained containers), they are treated no differently from general waste and have to be incinerated or landfilled. This defeats the purpose of trying to reduce waste through recycling.

The interactive chatbot features NEA's recycling mascot Bloobin, and is available on Telegram and WhatsApp.

The chatbot was unveiled as a part of NEA's Recycle Right campaign, launched at Unity Primary School on Sep. 16, by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng.

What does the chatbot do?

The Bloobin AI chat can help figure out whether an object can be recycled or not via texts and images.

Here is an image of a few possible ways to interact with the chatbot, provided by NEA:

You can send the chatbot a text clarifying whether a type of item can be recycled.

The chatbot then explains if it can be recycled, and where.

Trying it out

I asked the chatbot if a used takeaway cup from Starbucks can be recycled. This is what the chatbot said:

You could also send the chatbot a photo of the object, and it will tell you what to do, according to NEA.

I decided to try out the chatbot by taking a picture of my takeaway lunch box, still in a plastic bag, to see what the chatbot would say.

The chatbot was a bit perplexed by the question:

It is possible that the picture did not have enough information about the object to be able to decide whether it is recyclable or not.

I had also kept the lunch box in the bag, making the contents harder to see.

So, I took the lunch box out for Bloobin to take a look at, and it managed to identify what it was (it did not identify that it was a delicious carbonade flamande de boeuf with a side of pureed potatoes I had cooked the day before, but I can let that slide):

I tried out the chatbot with some used napkins as well, and the chatbot managed to identify what was in the picture and tell me what to do:

Lastly, you can also ask the chatbot general questions about recycling, to which it will provide clarifications.

Here are the QR codes for the chatbot, if you want to try it out yourself:

Top photo from NEA & Tharun Suresh.