DADvocate

In Montgomery, Ohio, a bedroom community of Cincinnati, homeowners recycling quantities is being tracked using a chip in the recycling containers.

Homeowners participating in the program use a container that has an ID chip that the truck records, along with the weight of the materials being recycled.

The system records the weight, converts it to points, and credits that amount directly to the homeowner's account.

Currently, this is a voluntary program to promote recycling and participants receive points based on the amount recycled. The points can be used to purchase goods and services from local and national merchants. The program has been an overwhelming success at this point.

Aside from the fact that households that recycle the most may also be the households that are the most wasteful and careless with the amount of goods they purchase and use, I wonder how long until some "well meaning" politician will decide everyone should be forced to have a recycling tub with a chip in it. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Idaho and the federal government are considering putting a GPS chip on every car to track its mileage in order to tax it. Oregon already has such a program.

I support recycling and take my recyclables to a truck size container a couple of miles away as recycling is not picked up at residences in my neck of the woods. But, we don't need big brother tracking our recycling efforts, or our cars for that matter. There seems to be no limit to how far politicians will infringe on our rights, privacy and freedoms if we allow them.