h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Where I live there has been a technological revolution on the wheelie bin front. We have Computerised Bins - in that each bin has a chip on the front which contains data about the bin's current user (name, address, account number at the local town hall etc). The technologically advanced lorry comes along, and empties the bin, as usual, but, before tipping the rubbish into the lorry, the chip is scanned and the rubbish weighed. This information is saved to the onboard computer. The bins are equipped with a lock to prevent unauthorised persons disposing of their waste at the bin owner's expense.

At the end of the year, the exact amount of rubbish taken away from that particular bin is calculated, and the over- or underpayment is refunded.

Pros of this system: recyclable materials (which are taken away free of charge) are thoroughly separated, anything which can be composted is put onto the heep. Not much waste has to be actually disposed of (in my village about 70% of all refuse is nappies!)

Cons of this system: litter dumping. But there doesn't seem to have been a hugely noticeable increase in this. (mostly because the litter dumping police are out in force, and will rake through the rubbish to identify and later locate and fine the offender)

Thought you might like to know.
Sho

Heaven knows what they are going to come up with next - this is, to be honest, slightly scary!

Maybe a bin that wheels itself to the dump.....

A TALKING BIN!!!!

"Good morning Mrs.Smith, I see you've come to dump your breakfast scraps again, and I didn't see you after dinner last night, so I suppose there'll be dinner rubbish, and a few beer cans in it, will there?"

"Uh, Harold (a talking bin after all has to have a NAME), could you just open up?"

"EE-ew, no THANK YOU. That STINKS!!! What have you got in there anyway? I just got cleaned by the nice Mr.Franchiser last week, and I'm trying to maintain my spotless interior."

"Harold, do I have to zap your chip again?"

"You know, they have a term for that, Mrs.Smith, it's called 'bin rage', I really don't know why. I'm such a friendly bin after all, I always say good morning to you."

"Yes, but you NEVER LET ME PUT MY RUBBISH IN!!!!"


-- Ahem, something like that. I got a bit carried away there

, or

Don't tell me, the next bit will be something like "brain the size of a planet and all I have to do is calcluate the mass of plate scrapings"

But it is rather frightening to think that 5, 10, 50 years down the line, some town-hall burocrat will be able to tell the world how many metric tonnes of waste Mr. X had in the year 2000...... Big Brother didn't see that one coming!

Merry Christmas
Sho

Reminds me of a certain lift which was affraid of heights... Is this bin built, by any chance, by the Cirus Cybernetics Corporation?

AAarrrgghhh! I put the I-bin (or will it be called an e-bin) out this morning - and it wished me a pleasant day........... but due to poor street lighting and whatever, I was unable to ascertain the manufacturer. But I'm not taking any bets.

Well the day is always more pleasant without having your rubbish around, I guess....

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I'm in the process of moving house - only 20km up the road, but yet another rubbish system. I now have 4 (!) wheelie bins. 1 is black for the general rubbish. 1 green for paper and cans, 1 yellow for other recyclable stuff, 1 brown for uncooked kitchen waste and garden rubbish. But, alas, none of them are "I-bins", the technological revolution hasn't arrived there yet.... but no doubt it is coming.

Sho

The worst I've ever suffered was having two bins - a big black general rubbish bin and a brown kitchen/garden waste bin. The bins were collected on alternate weeks, so you ended up with tons of general rubbish and a brown bin that would be, at best, half filled. The trouble with the collections was that they always tended to occur between 7am - 8am, the busiest time of day when you're trying to get kids ready for school and get to work yourself. So, in the midst of morning chaos you have to stand there wondering whether this is a brown or a black week... and the rubbish collectors got rather miffed if you got it wrong.

As this is a forum about wheelie bins, i though you would be interested in Binifresh. It attaches to the wheelie bin and sprays every 4 hours to keep your bin smelling nice. I just bought mine and i have to say, it is fantastic. I have no smells in my bin at all, and i have plenty of stinky nappies in there. Brilliant! http://www.binifresh.com