A Trash Bin that fines you

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A Recycling Bin That Knows When You’re Not Using It (And Fines You For It)

We've heard the promise: in the future, everything's connected. But when Cleveland rolls out its new RFID-enabled recycling bins next year, ones that know if you're using them and report you if you're not, you might long to disconnect.

On the surface, it doesn't sound so bad: Cleveland's City Council recently passed a $2.5 million measure to bring RFID-equipped recycling bins to 25,000 homes over the course of the next year. Using technology to save the planet—surely a noble end. But then there are the means:

The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn't been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.

Trash carts containing more than 10 percent recyclable material could lead to a $100 fine, according to Waste Collection Commissioner Ronnie Owens.

Yes, people should be recycling. But should their trash be subject to search in an effort to get them to do so?

A Recycling Bin That Knows When You're Not Using It (And Fines You For It)Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb points out that Cleveland's creepy bins are only the most recent example of "tattletaling objects," things that were once merely functional but now, with technology, have been made aware, for better or worse. And while I'm willing to accept annoyances like location-based ads in our increasingly connected future, my recycling bin, I think, is best left unplugged. [Cleveland.com via Wired and ReadWriteWeb]

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not only Cleveland!

Big Brother in your big yellow bin?

By TIM PRUDENTE, Staff Writer | Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 6:00 am

About 50,000 radio tracking devices have been distributed to homes in Anne Arundel County - including to a residence on Bay Street in Pasadena.

But when county trucks came to Candy Morrison’s home to deliver bright yellow bins, she told workers to take hers away.

She doesn’t want one.

Not after she learned the chips, known as RFIDs, can be used to transmit information about recyclables from each address.

“Under what conceivable reason would I want anyone looking at my trash that closely?” Morrison said. “I don’t like the idea of our government monitoring us like this.”

The small chips were embedded in every bin, which are larger than the old model and come on wheels. But the chips have not been activated, said Matt Diehl, spokesman for the county Department of Public Works.

The chips could be used to determine how many pounds of recyclables are coming from homes. The information would help officials reach residents who don't participate in the recycling program, Diehl said.

To activate the chips, the county must purchase a computer system to collect and store the data. Also “readers” must be installed on collection trucks to identify the cans.

Diehl said the county has no plans at this time to activate the chips.

“Right now, they’re useless,” he said. “It’s just another part of the container, no more invasive than the handle or the wheel.”

Still, Morrison is organizing the neighborhood to tell people their recyclables could be watched.

“If this is really such a good idea, why weren’t we told?” she asked.

Diehl said he is unsure why residents weren’t told.

He said residents would have the opportunity to opt out if the chips are ever activated.

The county has distributed about 50,000 bins, and officials plan to deliver another 25,000 by June. The county purchased the bins about two years ago. Each cost $42.50 and the RFID chip could be included for an additional cost of $1.

They also come with bar code labels so the county can keep track of where it has delivered the bins as it rolls them out across the county.

At that price, Diehl said, it made sense to buy the chips.

“This way we already have the chips in place,” he said.

Thousands of chips were included in recycling cans in Howard and Frederick counties. Officials with those counties told residents the chips would only be used if bins were lost or stolen.

Elsewhere, though, chips have caused public outcry.

Opposition was vocal when Cleveland launched a program about two years ago. And residents protested in Gastonia, N.C., convincing officials there to cancel the tracking effort.

“People should be notified if the county is going to put chips in the bins,” said Meredith Curtis, spokeswoman for the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s about transparency. People need to know what’s being done with their information.”