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At the beginning of this year, we were all introduced to the abstract concept of mandatory recycling in the city of Seattle [mb]. While I’m sure that everyone takes a similar bit of joy from chores like washing out glass jars, collecting aluminum cans, and bundling stacks of old periodicals for the recycling bins, the days of doing this for the simple pleasure of greener living are now coming to an end.

KOMO reports that 2006 strikes, garbage collectors will be checking out your trash to make sure that you’re doing your part to keep the bin free of recyclable articles [komo]. If your garbage isn’t trashy enough, it will be left on the curb to shame you into cleaning up your act. Or at least into dropping a couple of Hamiltons on the lid to get the driver to look the other way and call your > 10% recycling his or her > 90% garbage.