Christian Gunther-Hanssen, founder, Sweden Tidy Foundation, plans to cut 75% of Sweden’s annual budget of Rs.16.28 crore on street cleaning with his pilot project, named ‘Corvid Cleaning’. His modus operandi? Training crows to pick up cigarette butts.
Birds are being trained, step-by-step, to pick up garbage from the streets of the Swedish town of Sodertalje. Garbage, like cigarette butts, are put into vending machine that dispense food for the birdies.
“It is easy to teach birds and they have a higher chance of learning from each other. There’s also a lower risk of them eating any rubbish,” said Gunther-Hanssen.
The foundation has been engaging with European crows for the novel practice, but expect that magpies and jackdaws will soon be a part of the project.
