I have to confess… I was pretty excited when I was walking home this afternoon and noticed a new bin outside every house on my street. Including my house.

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The Ecology Center, which manages Berkeley’s recycling program, and Mayor Tom Bates have unveiled the new bins to be used by Berkeley residents. According to Berkeleyside:

The new carts have already started to appear on curbsides and a total of 36,000 of them will be delivered to Berkeley residents in single family homes over the next month.  Seven new trucks designed to handle the new carts are also now in use — the trucks are also divided into two sections, the larger of which holds paper and cardboard materials.

Apparently the bins are also designed to discourage poachers:

Accessing materials is more difficult than from an open box which might … put off potential poachers. The lid of the new cart is also printed with an advisory that the material contained in the cart is city property.

You can read the entire story here.

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