Where did that coke can go
US boffins are
electronically tagging rubbish with radio controlled chips to find out where
it goes when it is discarded.
The so-called "smart tags" tested this month at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be coming to a rubbish can
next month in Seattle. Thousands of volunteers will attach the tags to trash
and then discard the rubbish as they usually would. Similar projects are
planned for New York City and London, with the voyage of items to be
recorded and available for viewing on a blog.
Assaf Biderman, associate
director of MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory said that most people think that
when they throw something in the trash, most people think it's gone. But
three days later it could be under a ton of earth a few miles away, or being
dumped somewhere where the use of toxic chemicals and child labour is still legal.
Biderman's lab chose Seattle for the
program's prime time debut because of that city's reputation for recycling.
Seattle recycled half of its residential and commercial waste last year.