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Spotted at Hackaday is a story on positive reinforcement to train crows to pick up litter:
A Dutch startup wants to teach the crow population to pick up cigarette butts in exchange for bird treats.
The whole Corvidae family of birds is highly intelligent so it shouldn’t be a problem training them that they will get a reward for depositing something the Hominidae family regularly throw on the street where the birds live. This idea is in turn an evolution of the open-source Crow Box.
For some, leveraging the intelligence of animals is more appealing than programming drones which could do the same thing. A vision system mixed with a drone and a manipulator could fulfull[sic] the same function but animals are self-repairing and autonomous without our code. The irony of this project is that, although it's probably fairly easy to train crows to recognize cigarette butts, the implementation hinges on having a vision system that can recognize the butts in order to properly train the crows in the first place.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday October 10 2017, @06:34PM (3 children)
> Side note: My butts are entirely biodegradable in under a month
But most assholes litter the place with butts that take 5 years or more to degrade (according to PMI, so we can assume best-case).
Regardless of actual degradation time, we should train the crow to follow the smokers and drop the discarded butts in their house. Extra reward if they drop them on the bed or inside any cookware.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:28PM
That would amuse, yes.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:00AM (1 child)
In an urban environment 5+ years are probably right, but a cigarrete filter will degrade pretty rapidly when buried or composted - most of them are made of a synthetic or processed cellulose. I know a guy who used to collect butts from the collectors at local factories, shred them with an old lawnmower, and use them to mulch his rose garden.
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:59PM
Well, the fibrous structure makes it a decent soil aggregate (just like gravel, perlite, rockwool or leca-pellets), no need for it to decompose.
Also, nicotine is a pretty brutal insecticide, so making the soil toxic with it will really reduce the pests.
Whenever I get aphids I either get a can of neonicotines or get a few cigarettes, let them soak for a few days and then spray my plants with it.