Australian council rolls out micro-chipped rubbish bins to monitor waste

A Melbourne council has taken to rolling out micro-chipped rubbish bins to monitor what people are throwing away, it was revealed on Friday.

The Manningham Council, which governs a group of suburbs 25 km northeast of Melbourne, has rolled out the bins at a cost of 4.5 million U.S. dollars.

As well as micro-chipping the bins, garbage trucks in the area have been fitted with cameras to capture footage of what everyone is throwing away.

If the cameras or micro-chips find items being thrown away that shouldn't be, such as large metal objects, liquids, toxic or corrosive substances and asbestos, a sticker will be put on the offender's bin reminding them of what you can and can't put in regular bins.

"In cases where minor visible contamination is found, a warning sticker is placed on the bin lid to educate residents on what can and can't be placed in the bin," Leigh Harrison, the council's director of assets and engineering, told News Limited on Friday.

Residents caught repeatedly violating the rules of what can be thrown away will be hit with a 150 U.S. dollar fine.

Harrison said the cameras were installed to identify any waste that was obviously dangerous or inappropriate.

"Waste disposal facilities do not accept hazardous or inappropriate waste and council is subject to penalties if recyclable materials are contaminated," he said.

The chips in the bins are being used to identify what property they belong to as well as to help find missing or stolen bins.

The Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group, which is in charge of rubbish collection in 31 Melbourne councils, said the technology was being used by councils to "improve their waste management services." Endit