Drones And Artificial Intelligence Help Combat The San Francisco Bay's Trash Problem

Ever since the industrial chemist Leo Baekeland began synthesizing phenol and formaldehyde in 1907, the world has developed a love-hate relationship with the resulting polymer: plastic. While plastic is convenient, durable, and cheap, 50% of all plastics (about 150 million tons every year, worldwide) are used only once and then thrown away. Even for those who dutifully recycle our plastic water bottles and sandwich bags, we're only tackling a small part of the problem. "Considering the size of the problem, there's relatively limited infrastructure in place to capture and treat stormwater," says Tony Hale, program director for environmental informatics at the nonprofit San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI). That's where SFEI is looking to use research and data--and most recently, drones--to make a difference.