In London, the “war on litter bins” (removal of litter bins from train stations and central areas, supposedly to prevent them being misused by terrorists) has created a culture of simply leaving litter on the floor or in the street because there are no bins to put it in.
Perhaps that’s ok in busy central locations where a street cleaner will be along shortly to pick it up, but the problem is that people are now accustomed to dropping litter and do the same in suburbs, parks, and countryside where it just accumulates.
How do we solve it? We need to teach environmental education in schools and try to stop littering habits before they form.
But also, I think a great application for robotics technology will be litter picking, street-cleaning robots!
Perhaps that’s ok in busy central locations where a street cleaner will be along shortly to pick it up, but the problem is that people are now accustomed to dropping litter and do the same in suburbs, parks, and countryside where it just accumulates.
How do we solve it? We need to teach environmental education in schools and try to stop littering habits before they form.
But also, I think a great application for robotics technology will be litter picking, street-cleaning robots!