Crows will save society from its own pollution problems
A Dutch startup has invested funds into a "Crowbar" which encourages crows in big cities to pick up cigarette stumps so they can be rewarded with food. The birds will hopefully do what humans could not when it comes to pollution.
It appears the Dutch have given up on ever getting people to clean up after themselves and look after the environment.
Noticing the huge problem with litter, specifically of cigarette butts, in the city of Amsterdam, Dutch startup Crowded Cities tailored a novel solution. They created the Crowbar, "a tool to train crows to collect cigarette butts and reward them with food in return".
With the Crowbar, Crowded Cities can put an unlikely labour force to work to solve one of Amsterdam's biggest problems. It is the crows' high level of intelligence that makes them the best candidates for the project.
Using the Crowbar, Crowded Cities hopes to make a dent in the reported 1,69 billion pounds of non-biodegradable cigarette waste.
The Crowbar sounds like an inspired idea, but there have been concerns about its effectiveness in the long run.