The residents and companies alike, in Seattle, USA, may be facing fines if they don’t put their food scraps into a compost container. The separation of garbage into recyclable units has long been a social hot potato in the city and the fines are a way the city believes, to get people to sort before they throw.

As from January 2015, the rubbish collectors will be having a sneaky peak into randomly selected rubbish containers, and woe betide anyone who has absentmindedly dropped a banana skin into the wrong container… they will be dragged out of their houses, whipped and the little finger cut from their left hand. Alright, I may have made the last bit up, but they will face a one dollar fine on their next rubbish collection bill.

Apartment buildings with communal rubbish bins will receive higher fines with the highest of all penalties being reserved for commercial buildings.

Seattle has given itself a goal of recycling at least 60 percent of all its waste in 2015, pointing out that “compostables are around 30 percent of garbage and the biggest target to help us reach the 2015 goal,” explained Timothy Croll who has the unenviable title of ‘solid waste director’ at the utilities commission.

He also babbled on about composting reducing emissions of methane and saving the planet… Unfortunately those methane emissions are offset by the amount of methane produced by the Ed’s rear end.

Anyway, well done Seattle and your green ambitions!