Crows are trained to clean the streets
Crows are recruited in Södertalje, a city near the Swedish capital Stockholm, by a start-up that believes they can be trained to clean the streets.
Encouraged by food offerings, dispensed from a tailor-made machine designed by the beginner equipment Corvid Cleaning, the birds can exchange cigarette butts for goodies.
Christian Günther-Hanssen said: “They are wild birds that participate on a voluntary basis.” If it succeeded, he said that this method could save the city at least 75% of the cost of cleaning the streets from cigarette butts.
Research suggests that the new Caledonian crow, the bird recruited for street cleaning, is as developed on reasoning as a seven-year-old human.
“They are easier to teach and there is also a greater chance that they will learn from each other. At the same time, there is a lower risk that they accidentally eat rubbish, says Günther-Hanssen.
According to Günther-Hanssen, the cost per cigarette butt picked is 80 öre (about a third of a euro cent) or more, and that, if it is effective, the birds can reduce this cost considerably.
According to the Keep Sweden Clean Foundation, about one billion cigarette butts are released on the streets of Sweden every year. It accounts for 62% of all rubbish and Södertalje itself spends SEK 20 million (USD 2.16 million) on street cleaning every year.
If the pilot project goes according to plan, the trained crows can take their cleaning skills out into the streets.
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