Dumpster diver in action

[RobertArthur]

[Loup-garou]

Looks like you can recycle your unwanted/troublesome teenagers in Holland. Brilliant!

[RobertArthur]

Yes, recycling is the name of the game, not the early Nintendo duck hunt game, but a new version: can hunt. It was a mess on the streets, everywhere empty cans. Let's do something about it. Green policies: let’s introduce a deposit on those millions of cans that fly off the shelves every year: 0.15 euros. Not such a bad idea in itself. As is often the case, including on the world political stage, this is a measure with unintended, undesirable side effects. Is the cure worse than the disease?

The measure was intended to reduce litter — and the number of cans lying around in the countryside and on the streets has indeed fallen sharply — a major unforeseen downside has emerged: the so-called ‘bin chaos’. The streets in many cities are much messier. Smashed-open litter bins and rubbish bags, because an empty can is worth €0.15. ‘Deposit hunters’ are scouring the streets for discarded packaging. In large cities in particular, public litter bins and rubbish bags are being torn open en masse, emptied and searched through. The rubbish that comes with this often remains lying on the streets. Local authorities spend millions of euros every year on clearing up this specific litter and repairing damaged bins. Many people do not want to walk around with a sticky, empty can until they reach a supermarket. They prefer to throw the can into a public bin, which perpetuates the hunt for them. In other European countries, the buzzword on the high street right now is: ‘Visit the Netherlands, money for free’.

It’s not just seagulls littering the streets. Although the Dutch government does deploy them as unpaid security guards because of their resourcefulness. I've never seen a can 'seagull food' in a pet shop. The most dangerous one was assigned to guard the Prime Minister’s official car. Whether that security guard moved with him to NATO headquarters, I really wouldn’t know.

In the Middle Ages, they actually already had a rather good solution to the eternal thirst that plagues humanity: public fountains.

[exile]

In the Middle Ages, they actually already had a rather good solution to the eternal thirst that plagues humanity: public fountains.

And then came Cholera and other water-born diseases