The municipal authorities have noticed that many passers-by tend to miss bins in chucking away their litter (intentionally or unintentionally), with particular culprits being cigarette butts and chewing gum.
The city's hygiene service has been charged with the task of keeping the capital clean for the past 120 years, and launched an anti-littering campaign last year. The campaign is being extended this year, as the issue remains prevalent.
The work of the hygiene service was certainly quite different back in 1899 to the work the unit has to do nowadays. Back then, the service would empty muck latrines and transport the dead. Around a century later, the service has a completely different role and remains one of the most important pillars upholding the City of Luxembourg, according to mayor Lydie Polfer.
Polfer explained that we all want to have a clean city for future generations, which in turn means having an environment-conscious capital. The city has certainly been pioneering with its recycling centres and its work encouraging residents to produce less waste.
An exhibition highlighting the old work of the hygiene service will run from August to the end of September, and the authorities have appealed for residents with old images or objects to get in touch.
But littering remains a constant issue, even in 2019. The campaign will rebrand bins and signs with funny slogans to raise awareness and shame people into not littering. Marc Weber, the head of service, explained they have put posters on bins with slogan such as 'Give me something to eat, I'm hungry'. The main goal is to make people notice the bins and discuss the issue.
Another way to encourage people to dispose of waste appropriate is to create voting bins for cigarette butts, where smokers vote by putting their butts in one of the two sections. Other cities have employed this method, such as asking smokers questions like 'Who is the better rapper, Eminem or Machine Gun Kelly?', tapping into the then-current discussion of the rappers' 'beef'. (Editor's note: the answer is clearly Kendrick Lamar).
The city was able to collect more than a thousand cigarette butts with the entertaining methods. Around 2,000 bins in the capital have attached ash trays, leaving no excuse for people to chuck cigarette butts on the ground.
