upvote
> The only reliable signal is that they arrive at 6 a.m. sharp in trucks specifically engineered to maximize acoustic output.

This gave me a chuckle. It seems almost every where in the world this is true. Ofcourse it is quiet outside around that time, amplifying the effect, but I am always amazed why loud things always need to happen so early. Maybe I should become a morning person, but prefer dark, silent nights for concentration.

reply
In my area half the issue is cars being parked on the way, which is why the truck has to approach the bins in reverse, which is particularly loud.

The other half is buildings being spaced 7m apart, because that's the minimum allowable at this height. The echo is enormous.

That being said it's still more tolerable than the people absolutely punching it through our 30km/h street with their modified exhausts and windows rolled down - as if the point for them was to lose hearing as fast as possible.

reply
> It seems almost every where in the world this is true.

The metropolitan area near me have had electric trash trucks for some years (https://www.sustainabletruckvan.com/renault-trucks-clean-cit...), which when you walk near them, are shockingly silent, for how large and bulky they still are. I'm not sure how many been deployed, the "old" ones are still all over the place, and noisy as everywhere else, but surely these "Renault Trucks E-Tech D and D Wide electric trucks" they talk about must have been deployed elsewhere too?

reply
> I live in the EU, where I have five separate waste streams: glass, paper, plastic/metal, RVM plastic, and general trash.

In Toronto, Canada (and Ontario generally?) we use single-stream recycling:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-stream_recycling

So we have organic waste (food scraps, etc; green bin), recycling (blue), and everything else ("garbage"; black). Organics/green gets picked up every week, blue and black alternate (always on the same day: so one week green+blue, next week green+black).

For hazardous stuff you take it to a depot or wait for a city community event nearby:

* https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-...

This past year the provincial government made it so that municipalities do not have to handle recycling anymore, but it is now the responsibility of the manufacturers ("producer responsibility model")

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_in_Canada#Ontario

* https://www.circularmaterials.ca/what-is-epr/

Is there a reason why all these separate streams are used where you live?

reply
Oh this wouldn't work in many countries like those in the global south. Everything would just go into the garbage bin because it's less of an inconvenience. It's best to force people into rigid unambiguous categories like plastic, paper, food etc. Without giving them an ambiguous option like recyclables, like no one knows what is recyclable.
reply
I see several reasons listed in the first link in your comment.
reply
LOL, you’re taking about OpenClaw, right? The neural network not only takes out the bins but also starts posting on HN
reply
No, he's referring to using the human body, brain, and nose to figure out when to take the trash out to the street, with Home Assistant giving a reminder.
reply
I know, just LOL. My “home assistant” would frown at me for the “home assistant” epitheton.
reply
Just 5? Lucky you, here (depending on how you count) we're doing 13 fractions.
reply
Please elaborate and educate us. I might be missing a stream but where I live we have three. But most people ignore any rules AND complain when costs go up.
reply
That’s nuts. Where is ‘here’?
reply
Sounds like Switzerland - different bin for each colour of glass - at least in Zürich.
reply
Same for Germany, but those don't get picked up, you go and throw them into different bins at a collection point (which is why you usually have all the glass in one bag). I'd say Germany has way more separation than Zürich. We have 4-5 at most.
reply
> The neural network is annoyingly power-hungry,

I don't think it's power hungry at all! Benchmark it's energy use against SOTA, you will be surprised.

reply
Key word is "annoyingly" One plugs into the wall and only requires maintenance(electrical bill) once a month. The efficient one permanently attached to you requires maintenance several times a day.
reply