New York's wheelie bin revolution is exciting for everyone but rats

Last year, 200 composting bins were rolled out in New York City, with a unit on every other corner you could open and close via an app. This was exciting for those of us who have hit an age when rubbish disposal is something we think about.

- Emma Brockes

For a while, my kids indulged me in my need to discuss composting - whether our bag would fit in the bin; how good the exercise made us feel; whether it actually did anything useful or not before pointing out I was talking about it too much.

Last week, a new fleet of wheelie bins was introduced across the city, and the excitement has been almost too much to bear.

The "trash revolution" as Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, put it while placing a black bin bag in a wheelie bin in front of reporters, sounds like a characteristic piece of hyperbole from the man, but for once he wasn't exaggerating. Like banking technology, rubbish disposal is one of those baffling areas in which the US in general, but New York in particular, lags wildly behind other countries.