High tech carts will tattle if you don’t recycle

Guess who'll be hiding out in Clevelanders' trash cans? Big Brother, that's who -- at least according to a report at the link below.

What would Sesame Street's Oscar the grouch think?

The move is part of a high-tech collection system the city will roll out next year with new trash and recycling carts embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.

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.

How long will it be before geeky kids in Cleveland disable the recycling bins in an entire neighborhood just to see the reaction from homeowners when they all get $100 charges on their monthly bills.

Actually, disabling the chips should be fairly easy. I think I still have a bulk eraser from Radio Shack that would to the job. I used it back in the 1980's to magnetically erase data from those early floppy disks before re-formatting.

If this goes national, the White House will need to appoint a garbage czar.

Link