Meanwhile, back in the U.K., more complaints about spying in trash bins leads to an editorial in the Harrow Observer (emphasis added by me):
Teams of wheelie bin police began snooping around household rubbish bins in Brent this week. But when does the council take it a step too far and commit an invasion of your privacy?
When people put their bins out they should feel assured that their rubbish is being disposed of immediately rather than being taken away to be analysed.
Everyone wants to cut landfill and improve services but moves such as this, or cameras in wheelie bins, can lead to feelings of intrusion and fear that Big Brother is watching us.
[…]
The council says it kept the project secret in order to prevent people from changing the normal way they dispose of their rubbish, but it leaves very little time for households to opt out of the scheme.
Perhaps local authorities should be thinking of more inventive ways to educate people about recycling properly instead of spying on them.
Are they kidding? The council made a willful decision not to inform the public? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to inform that starting on such-and-such date, rubbing will be subject to inspection to determine compliance with recycling requirements? And even then, inspecting rubbish – even if we call it “analyzing” it – crosses the creepy line.