Straits Times 15 Apr 08;
SYDNEY - TENS of thousands of Australian households will have their garbage and recycling monitored by tracking devices placed in their trash bins, a move dubbed 'Bin Brother' by local media.
Officials yesterday confirmed that 78,000 new council-issued garbage bins in the eastern suburbs of Sydney have been fitted with small radio frequency tags which allow for data collection.
Each bin will transmit a unique identification code to the garbage truck which weighs and empties it each week, allowing officials to identify how much rubbish is produced at each address.
The technology, which is similar to that used to track cattle, will tell the council whether residents are using the bins correctly or mixing recyclable material with trash destined to become landfill.
Randwick Mayor Bruce Notley-Smith said that the bins were not aimed at introducing a levy for the collection of heavy rubbish, but at stepping up recycling.
'We have aimed to increase or target problem areas in the city where there is a lower level of recycling,' he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
