Upon my recent commutes to London to perform various menial/technical operations to ensure the continuing air conditioned comfort of London workers I have observed the following:

Problem:

There are not enough rubbish bins in London - particularly at Tube and Train stations.
The train that I sometimes take from my home town used to have transparent bags at the exits for rubbish.
The rubbish mainly consisted of newspapers (given away free on the train), coffee cups and old food boxes.
The reasons given a few years ago (pre 9/11) for removing rubbish bins were mainly due to security i.e. "bin = bomb drop".
Equally, the bins that were provided would not be sorted for recyclable produce in any event.

After the unfortunate incident that is now known as 7/7 the first response from transport providers has been to remove the existing bins from station platforms and all trains (I am thinking Docklands Light Railway - DLR and South East Trains) and to encourage us to take all our rubbish home
(announcements about 15 times an hour on top of the exhortations to not leave any bags unattended).
The DLR bins were transparent plastic and it should be clear(!) that the contents are safe.
At the same time, due to the hot weather, the same people are telling us to take a bottle of water on our journey to maintain hydration levels.
This has resulted in the proliferation of plastic bottles at the end of most escalators and outside stations.

Solution: I would like to propose that Transport for London (i.e. Red Ken Livingstone) set up a new form of recycling station with the following properties:

1) Segregation for recyclable objects. I would only include drink bottles, newspapers and food cartons.
2) Orifice dimensions to be appropriate for the type of object deposited (within reason).
3) Transparent "shell' containers for ease of viewing. For a semi-large extra cost the object could be weighed/scanned when deposited in order to find out if it is of the correct type. These devices would be for keeps, though, (I know that supermarkets on the continent can scan plastic bottles, determine their size, and issue you with a receipt to save money on shopping so it can't be that hard!)

This would pick up a large proportion of the refuse in the City whilst precluding the option of dumping a bomb in a bin.
Any exceptional refuse could be dealt with in the normal way.
My apologies for the long one!
-- gnomethang, Jul 20 2005

I like the environment-friendly proposal of adding recycling bins, but I don't know about the clear trash can part.

I don't think that Londoners would appreciate clear trash bins, because although a bomb would be easier to spot, those on the tube would be forced to look at all the rotting food bits, etc.

However, I really like your weight-sensitive idea. A scale at the bottom wouldn't have to be too sensitive, or too expensive. As long as it registered drops of more than about 10 pounds, it would be good. I doubt anybody on the tube is throwing anything away that weighs more than that, but a bomb would easily be 10 or 15 pounds.

When the scale registered the excessive force, it could silently alert a central station. Overall, it's a VERY good idea.
-- PatTheGreat, Jul 21 2005


Two crushing rollers would compact the refuse, as it is dropped, and at the same time prevent the deposit of bombs.
-- Ling, Jul 21 2005


//Unless the rollers detonate an unstable chemical//But then the dropper gets blown up
-- Ling, Jul 21 2005


bun for orifice dimensions.
-- po, Jul 21 2005


True [UB], there are flaws and I know that someone will work around it somehow if pushed, but I was trying to get the maximum deterrent value. I was thinking about liquid explosives or 'plastic' explosives but thought that the weight sensor/scanner might pick them up. Plastic explosives are heavy aren't they.
[PattheGreat], I wasn't considering actual food items although I suppose someone would manage to throw a fishbone down a hole!.
-- gnomethang, Jul 21 2005


[UB], I always thought suicide bombers were a bit stupid, but I didn't think they would be dumb enough to commit suicide by blowing up a refuse bin.
-- Ling, Jul 21 2005



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