Anti-Littering Campaigns

Berlin has new talking rubbish bins, which the city hopes will encourage people to toss trash into the bins instead of on the sidewalk. According to The Guardian,

"We want to encourage people in a nice, funny way to throw their trash in the baskets and not on the street," said the official, Bernd Müller. The talking trashcans -- powered by solar cells -- are meant to show that Berlin is "a modern city with high-tech services, and that it is also very cosmopolitan."

The other fun thing is that the units are polyglot, with some saying "Thank You" or "Merci" instead of "Danke." At night, the bins will glow green, instead of speaking to avoid startling people.

I don't know if they still do or not, but when I was a kid, trash cans in New Orleans were painted purple, green, and gold (the colors of Mardi Gras) and featured a stylized person yelling: "Throw me somethin’, Mister!" Of course, this phrase is what people yell to maskers during Mardi Gras parades in an attempt to get beads, doubloons, etc.

Of course, such measures will not help keep raccoons out of the trash.