Today we travel from Frankfurt, Germany to Brussels, Belgium to illustrate three ways to “Pimp Your Recycling Bin” (or “Render Your Public-Area Recycling Bin Most Effective”).

At Frankfurt International Airport (Fraport), we watch a fictitious traveler - let’s call her Susie. She has just eaten take-out food, and needs to throw away her plastic clamshell. Susie spots a brushed stainless steel container labeled, “waste,” and walks over.

Upon closer inspection, she realizes that the bin is segregated into four sections. There are multiple languages and colors. This thing is beautiful!

She takes her clamshell container, which had housed her lunch, and starts to throw it towards the yellow bin. She pauses, and wonders, “What, exactly, is ‘packaging’?”

Since our trusty traveler is not from Germany (or even Europe), she does not know about the German “green point” system that stamps all recyclable packaging with a little pair of interlocking arrows. Once, Susie learned, “When in doubt, throw it out.” She takes the conservative option and puts the clamshell in the black “waste” bin.



She walks away from the shiny container a little puzzled.

A few days later, Susie takes a train to Brussels, Belgium. Upon disembarking the train, she comes into a similar container.

Susie sees the line art and colors on the side of the container and walks up to it. Peering into the top of the container, she sees line art, simple text, and colors. This thing is not just beautiful: it is informative and functional.

Susie knows from the line art exactly where to put her clamshell container. Also, Susie infers from the line art that “PMC” means “Plastic, Metal, or Carton.” She doesn’t speak the language or know the culture, but she gets it.

Susie then spreads the message on the three ways to pimp public area recycling bins:
1. Use line art.
2. Use simple text.
3. Put messaging as close to the point of disposal (the opening) as possible.