AI-Powered Waste Management: A Vision-Based Plastic Waste Classifier Using OpenCV

The improper disposal and inefficient sorting of plastic waste pose a significantenvironmental threat. In this paper, we propose an AI-powered plastic waste classificationsystem using computer vision techniques with OpenCV. The proposed system capturesimages of waste materials, preprocesses them using filters and contour detection, and thenclassifies the type of plastic using a lightweight machine learning algorithm. This real-timeclassification aids in improving the recycling process by automating the waste sortingstage. The model is trained on a custom dataset of commonly used plastic types such asPET and HDPE. Our system is intended to be integrated with smart bins and wastemanagement units to promote sustainable practices.