Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to read and comment.

Paula, I agree with Patrice and JNM that one such machine, instead of solving the problem of plastic pollution on waterways, would likely make it worse. Not even going into the discussion about micro plastics, only the existence of a kind of ‘magic machine’ that works down the line would make the general citizen believe they do not need to worry and even feel entitled to throw away packaging and the such. I was surprised to see how young germans behaved during the night in Dresden - smashing glass bottles on the street - but then the next night the sweeping cars came and cleaned everything again.

I believe it is a similar effect to that of the public information about the higher rates of longer lives for HIV positive people. Friends who work in public health tell me that only by knowing about that, teenagers are not using condoms anymore. If the prospect of contracting HIV does not sound as bad as it used to (fortunately), it may have this ill effect of making people behave in risky ways.

Coming back to waste, one idea I have discussed with colleagues (but not that explicit in the text, I realise now) was that instead of making waste disappear automatically in the city, we could instead think of ways to making it really visible. Make waste dwell in public places so citizens can get a sense of how much of it is generated. Just the other day I’ve seen transparent litter cans. I was curious, but weirdly felt somehow ashamed - as if something very personal about the people who used it was exposed by only being there. If that was in a more intimate setting - say the bins outside a residential building - I can imagine lots of privacy issues arising as well.

Anyone else has ideas on this tension about visibility/privacy of waste?

efe