Recycling bins that know when you recycle, fine when you don't

Look out, America — if you're not recycling, your garbage bins may
start making sure that you do. Especially if you happen to live in
Cleveland.























The city is dropping $2.5 million in order to outfit 25,000
households with RFID-tagged recycling bins that will monitor how often
people take their recyclables out. If, for instance, it's noticed that
you don't go to the curb that often with the good stuff, your regular
trash will be sorted and you'll be fined for not properly separating
your refuse.

There could be another use for the monitoring system: deciding if you simply produce too much trash. If you do, you may have to pay fines for being wasteful.

It may not be an idea that goes national, but it's an interesting glimpse of what could eventually be the future of garbage collection: citizens really having to think about what and how they throw things out, and being accountable for it.