Rubbish about Rubbish

This has the potential of turning into an absolute rant, but I wont. Rubbish. The bane of many a resident's life in Barcelona, and a constant battle for the council. I took the first photo below in 2010, just because it tickled my fancy and I was surprised at the lengths people would go to expecting that perhaps the person who left this here would actually get around to seeing the note (or be bothered). Chances are, withing a few hours of the note being left, your BCNeta men on those lethal electrical vans would have swept it up and taken it to the incinerators under Montjuic (I say lethal, cos you can't hear the bloody things when they approach behind you - no headphones - and I've nearly been knocked into by one on more than one occasion!).

Translation, for those of you who can't see that too clearly: "Rubbish/Trash is to be thrown in the corresponding containers "not here"." It's a fairly innocuous cardboard box, and I suspect it could be a recycling crusador on a mission rather than the general bag of rubbish you usually find dogs chewing through.

Fast forward three years, and I saw this today in exactly the same spot:

The council has bothered to waste money on silly stickers to try and educate people to drop their rubbish in the correct place. This bag of rubbish lasted about 3 minutes where it was (seriously, I went into a shop after I took the photo, and when I came out it was gone), so not sure if it serves a purpose or not. I've seen other rubbish chutes (where it's all underground) for example written in various languages (Arabic, Indian/Bagri/punjab/etc.) asking citizens to please ensure they drop their bags in the (albeit very small) doors, and not to just drop them on the floor. This sticker reads "you don't do it like this. Close the bag properly and drop it in the correct container..." along the same lines.

I said it wouldn't be a rant, so I won't go on about how the council wouldn't have to spend money on silly stickers in people were just civilised enough to care about the spaces we all share, or how it's no extra effort to open the door of the rubbish chutes, rather than dropping it on the floor, or how the council could spend its money more wisely, etc. etc. Any thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

Coming to Barcelona this summer? Barclona apartments can be a great way to save money and live like the locals. Check out the link for more information.