Bay Area residents may want to start checking their trash lids a little more carefully.
A growing number of waste haulers are using cameras mounted on garbage trucks to photograph bins during pickup, flag overfilled containers, and in some cases charge residents after repeated warnings. The idea is simple: if your bin lid is wide open, if bags are piled around the cart, or if the wrong materials are in the wrong bin, the truck may now capture evidence.
The newest rollout is happening on the Peninsula, where Recology confirmed that cameras are now attached to most of its residential trucks across the 11 San Mateo County cities and jurisdictions it serves. The system went into effect April 15, according to SFGATE, and the photos are reviewed by Recology staff before customers are warned or charged.
How the New Trash Cameras Work
The system is not quite “AI spying on your trash,” at least according to Recology…