Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, facilitating a first addition to a blockchain of a first transaction, the first addition to the blockchain of the first transaction being based at least in part upon first data that identifies a product; facilitating a second addition to the blockchain of a second transaction, the second addition to the blockchain of the second transaction being based at least in part upon second data that is indicative of a purchase by a consumer of the product; and facilitating a third addition to the blockchain of a third transaction, the third addition to the blockchain of the third transaction being based at least in part upon third data that is indicative of a placement into a recycling stream of the product. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Systems and methods for detecting a waste receptacle, the system including a camera for capturing an image, a convolutional neural network, and processor. The convolutional neural network can be trained for identifying target waste receptacles. The processor can be mounted on the waste-collection vehicle and in communication with the camera and the convolutional neural network configured for using the convolutional neural network. The processor can be configured for using the convolutional neural network to generate an object candidate based on the image; using the convolutional neural network to determine whether the object candidate corresponds to a target waste receptacle; and selecting an action based on whether the object candidate is acceptable.

A method of tracking a recyclable product includes activating one or more communications devices embedded within or attached to at least one part of the recyclable product. The one or more communications devices include circuitry configured to monitor a location of the at least one part of the recyclable product, and to communicate via a wireless communications network. In response to the one or more communications devices being activated, the one or more communications devices switch from an inactive state in which the one or more communications devices do not transmit an indication of the location of the at least one part of the recyclable product to a recycling state in which the one or more communications devices transmit the indication of the location of the at least one part of the recyclable product to a tracking entity via the wireless communications network. An arrangement is provided in which a product may be recycled by a party which is independent from the consumer of the product and a manufacturer of the product and the recycling may be tracked by the consumer or another entity to monitor a recycling of the product.

An integrated circuit device including processing circuitry, communications circuitry configured to provide a communication link with a communication apparatus external to the integrated circuit device, and a memory accessible by the processing circuitry and by the communications circuitry, the memory comprising a memory region to which the processing circuitry has write access and to which the communications circuitry has read access, in which the processing circuitry is configured to write information to the memory region indicative of one or more use conditions of the integrated circuit device, and in which the communications circuitry is configured to access the memory region and to provide the information indicative of the one or more use conditions of the integrated circuit device via the communication link.

Systems and methods for automatically grading a user device are provided. Such systems and methods can include (1) a lighting element positioned at an angle relative to a platform, (2) an imaging device positioned at the angle relative to the platform such that light emitted from the lighting element and a field of view of the imaging device form a right angle where the light emitted from the lighting element and the field of view meet at a user device when the user device is positioned at a predetermined location on the platform, and (3) control circuitry that can activate the lighting element, instruct the imaging device to capture an image of a screen of the user device while the user device is at the predetermined location and is being illuminated by the first lighting element, and parse the image to determine whether the screen is damaged.

Techniques are described for correlating entity identification information with refuse containers being serviced by a refuse collection vehicle (RCV). Location data can be collected by location sensor(s) on the RCV at a time when a triggering condition is present, such as a time when a lift arm is operating to empty a refuse container into the hopper of the RCV. The location data can be provided as input to an algorithm that estimates a container location through a vector offset to account for the distance and direction of the RCV lift arm relative to the location sensor in the RCV. The container location can be correlated with parcel data to determine the parcel that the container was on or near to when it was serviced, and the customer or other entity associated with the parcel can be correlated to the particular container based on the analysis.

In preferred embodiments, the present disclosure relates to methods for transportation of hazardous waste and/or waste classified under TSCA, and may comprise the acts of: translocating at least one intermodal trailer chassis from a primary terrestrial site to a first stationary barge, wherein said trailer chassis is carrying an intermodal shipping container containing the waste material, and wherein the first stationary barge is adapted to rise and fall with changes to the water level; moving the intermodal trailer chassis carrying the intermodal shipping container from the first stationary barge to a mobile barge adapted to traverse the body of water; traversing the body of water with the mobile barge; and offloading the at least one intermodal trailer chassis carrying the intermodal shipping container to a secondary terrestrial site via a second stationary barge.

The present invention provides a method for tracking and managing power supplying devices and a blockchain-based system to perform such tracking and monitoring. The method comprises the steps of retrieving recorded characteristic data that is associated with an existing product identification from a blockchain, verifying such recorded characteristic data, generating a new product identification that is connected to the existing product identification and recording the new product identification and new characteristic data in the blockchain. The system comprises a blockchain and a middleware computer to perform the above-mentioned steps. Also provided herein is a blockchain-based system for monitoring and renting a power supplying device.

A method for awarding blockchain mining fees based on recycling efforts includes: receiving recycling data for each of a plurality of mining systems including an amount of recycled materials associated with the respective mining system; receiving validation data for each mining system from third party entities including, for each mining system, a confirmation of the amount of recycled materials for the respective recycling data; selecting one of the mining systems, which is weighted based on the amount of recycled materials for the respective mining system compared to a total amount of recycled materials for all mining systems; and receiving a new block generated by the selected mining system including a block header and a plurality of blockchain data values including a blockchain data value corresponding to a blockchain transaction for payment of mining fees for the new block to a wallet associated with the selected mining system.

A bulk sorting system for sorting objects in bulk is provided. The bulk sorting system includes: at least one radiation source arranged to radiate the objects, at least one optical sensor arranged to capture reflected radiation of the objects and acquire the reflected radiation as multi- or hyperspectral data; a processing circuit configured to analyze the reflected radiation of the objects by inputting the multi- or hyperspectral data into a convolutional neural network (CNN) with at least two convolutional layers in order to either detect and classify the objects in the multi- or hyperspectral data and/or semantically segment the multi- or hyperspectral data; and a mechanical sorter configured to sort the objects according to their classification and/or segmentation using the analysis of the processing circuit such that different overlapping and/or stacked objects are separated or treated as a single group of objects.