Number's up

Numbers seem to rule our lives. We have phone numbers, employee numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, Emirates ID numbers, driver's licence numbers and passport numbers. However, it's not just human beings who are in danger of becoming simple statistics. Very soon, each one of Abu Dhabi's 30,000 dustbins will have its own, unique number, too.

In an initiative to help keep the emirate clean, the Centre of Waste Management has initiated a month-long campaign to identify and record the bins in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

The centre's Faris Al Mazroui says it is part of a initiative to encourage people to dispose of their refuse in a responsible way. If anybody needs to report an incident or a violation - such as the incorrect disposal of waste or any other unauthorised rubbish-related activity - they can ring the centre and quote the number of the bin. Presumably, this will result in deployment of a crack team of debris detectives.

It's certainly good news that the authorities can now pinpoint every rubbish bin in the emirate's two major centres. Once they've finished this project, perhaps they can start assigning house numbers and addresses, so our friends and our mail can find us more efficiently as well.