The stack

Secure, and lean.
Zero friction.
Scalable.

A purpose-built Vision AI system that delivers hyper-local sorting guidance, frictionless and energy-efficient by design, using intelligent caching to reduce the AI footprint of every scan.

Architecture

AWS-powered.

POUBELLE.AI runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's leading cloud platform, ensuring bank-level security, 99.9% uptime, and the capacity to scale nationally without slowing down.

API Integration

The POUBELLE.AI API connects to existing fleet management systems, operations platforms, and partner dashboards, no rip-and-replace required.

Avg. response time

from photo tap to bin answer

< 2s

Expected recognition accuracy

based on smartphone-camera Vision AI benchmarks

>92%

Local rules coverage

local rules alignment for covered areas

100%

Languages supported

English and Spanish at launch

EN / ES

Deployment method

QR: Quick Response code · NFC: Near Field Communication

using existing bins, no heavy investment and no maintenance

QR / NFC

Security standards

and SOC 2 certified

ISO 27001

Carbon Intelligence

The AI that helps the planet

We take our energy footprint seriously. POUBELLE.AI is built to be lean.

One POUBELLE.AI scan

0.5g

of CO₂ 1

One can recycled — not made from scratch

100g

of CO₂ saved 2

Per year, per American

31,900g

of CO₂ saved 5

Depending on the item, one correct sort offsets its own carbon cost 100 to 200 times over.

See data
Item Applied sorting CO₂ saved Scans offset
Plastic bottle (500ml) Recycling ~50g3 ~100×
Apple Composting ~70g4 ~140×
Aluminum can Recycling ~100g2 ~200×

Response Caching

Common items answered from memory, not recomputed.

Once POUBELLE.AI's Vision AI has classified an item (a yogurt cup, a pizza box, a cardboard sleeve), that answer is cached. The next person who scans the same item gets an instant response pulled from memory, not a new AI inference cycle. This is how the ~0.5g per scan figure holds even as usage scales.

Sources

1 ~0.5g CO₂ per scan — Machine Learning Impact Calculator (mlco2.github.io); lightweight model quantization and response caching keep per-scan energy minimal (mlco2.github.io).

2 Aluminum Association / Sphera, Life Cycle Assessment of North American Aluminum Cans, 2021 (aluminum.org).

3 Thunder Said Energy, CO₂ savings from PET bottle recycling, 500ml LCA, 2024 (thundersaidenergy.com).

4 EPA, "Quantifying Methane Emissions from Landfilled Food Waste," 2023 (epa.gov); Scientific Reports 2023, composting emissions study (nature.com/srep).

5 Container Recycling Institute — Key Facts. ~107 billion cans sold annually (2023); 43% recycling rate; ~319 cans consumed per American per year (107B ÷ 335M) (container-recycling.org).

Impact Calculator

Estimate your environmental impact

See how much CO₂ you could prevent and how many additional tons you could divert with AI-powered sorting guidance.

Your Current Situation

Your Impact with POUBELLE.AI

Additional Tons Diverted Annually

2,055 tons/year

CO₂-Equivalent Saved Annually

2,844 tons CO₂e/year

Carbon Return on Investment

156:1

For every 0.5g of CO₂ from AI, you prevent 156g of emissions

New Diversion Rate

35%

Improvement

+10%

AI Carbon Cost

18 tons

Net Benefit

2,826 tons

That's Equivalent To:

Taking 615 cars off the road for a year
Powering 348 homes for a year
Planting 46,700 trees

Carbon Savings Breakdown by Material

Organics (Food Waste) 1,943 tons CO₂e saved

493 additional tons composted instead of landfilled (prevents methane emissions)

Aluminum 609 tons CO₂e saved

41 additional tons recycled (95% energy savings vs. virgin production)

Plastics (PET/HDPE) 292 tons CO₂e saved

247 additional tons recycled (70% energy savings vs. virgin production)

AI Carbon Footprint −18 tons CO₂

36,500,000 scans per year × 0.5g CO₂ per scan

Sources: Aluminum: The Aluminum Association / Sphera LCA, 2021.  |  Plastics: Thunder Said Energy, 2024.  |  Organics: EPA "Quantifying Methane Emissions from Landfilled Food Waste," 2023.  |  AI Footprint: Hao et al., 2024.  |  Equivalencies: EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator, 2024.

Sorting Rules Engine

The rules vary.
Our answers do too.

Waste sorting rules are hyperlocal and evolve. POUBELLE.AI maintains a continuously synchronized database of what the Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) actually accept.

Item Eco-Cycle (Boulder, CO) Denver Recycles
Aluminum foil

♻️ Recycle. Must be rinsed of food residue, balled ≥ 2 in. and NOT FLATTENED

Eco-Cycle

♻️ Recycle. Must be clean and balled up. No size requirement

denvergov.org
Shredded paper

🗑️ Trash or CHaRM. Do not put already shredded paper, or plastic bags full of shredded paper, into your recycling bin.

Eco-Cycle curbside / CHaRM

♻️ Recycle. Limit shredded paper and place in a closed paper bag labeled "shredded paper."

Denver Recycles Easy Guide
Pizza box

🗑️ Trash if frozen pizza.

♻️ Recycle if fresh pizza and empty box with no food residue.

If greasy box: tear the box in half and recycle the clean half in your single-stream recycling cart. Food-soiled paper is not recyclable and is no longer compostable in community programs. Put the soiled half in your trash collection.

Eco-Cycle

♻️ Recycle. Food needs to be removed. If grease soaks through both sides, please place in trash or use for home/garden composting.

Denver Recycle-Compost-Trash
Cups (paper)

🗑️ Trash. Single use paper cups and paper lids are not recyclable in Boulder County. Also put plastic lids in the trash.

Eco-Cycle

♻️ Recycling. Remove lid and straw.

Denver Recycle-Compost-Trash

Vision AI Layer

One photo.
Instant sorting.

POUBELLE.AI's Vision AI processes a single smartphone photo against a continuously updated database of detailed local rules. The result is a precise, actionable answer, not a generic guess.

Material Recognition

Identifies plastics, glass, paper, metal, organics, and hazardous materials from a single smartphone photo.

Contamination Scoring

Generates a contamination rate for each load, identifying the specific items driving rejection risk.

Sub-2-Second Response

Optimized inference pipeline returns a structured result (bin assignment, preparation steps, and context) in under 2 seconds.

Bilingual Output

Delivers guidance in the user's preferred language between English and Spanish. No translation friction at the moment of sorting.

Diversion Detection

Audits general waste bins for misplaced recyclables and organics, flagging recovery opportunities before materials are lost to landfill.

POUBELLE.AI contamination detection and audit interface

Roadmap

Immediate Public Utility

At launch — August 2026

The core web app experience designed for zero-friction engagement at the physical bin.

  • QR / NFC entry. No download, no login, no friction.
  • Vision AI: one photo, sorting guidance in under 2 seconds
  • Clear explanations: why each item belongs there, and what it becomes next
  • Multi-language support: English and Spanish at launch
  • Multi-material items: step-by-step breakdown and prep instructions
  • Low-carbon by design: smart caching minimizes energy per scan

Enterprise Operational Layer

At launch — August 2026

The backend engines that prove value to municipalities, partners, and haulers.

  • Fleet Ingestion APIs for hopper cameras and image uploads
  • AI contamination detection with digital audit reports
  • Geospatial event logging: GPS, timestamp, and street address
  • Stakeholder dashboards for haulers, partners, and municipalities
  • EPR compliance reporting and behavioral trend analytics

Advanced features

Phase 2 — Post-launch

Transitioning casual scanners into recurring, brand-loyal users.

  • Native user profiles with Green Points rewards system
  • Achievement badges and educational quizzes
  • Personal impact dashboard: your sorting history and outcomes
  • Localized push notifications for rule updates
  • Calendar reminders for local waste pickup schedules
  • Bin issues reporting

Universal Native Ecosystem

Phase 3 — The full ecosystem

The scale phase where POUBELLE.AI becomes the ambient intelligence for circularity.

  • Full iOS and Android native apps with advanced computer vision
  • Voice integration: Siri, Alexa, and Hey Meta
  • Automated weekly ingestion of changing regional policies
  • Smart Substitution AI recommending eco-alternatives
  • Circular Market Engine: donate, repurpose, and divert
  • Enterprise subscription tiers and partner account management