An Aussie bloke has shared a wild conspiracy theory that his local council is tracking what kind of rubbish he throws away after discovering a ‘chip’ in his bin.
The man pointed to what he believed was a monitor on the underside of his bin issued by the Casey Council, in Melbourne’s southeast, in a TikTok on Tuesday.
‘Did you know, the council are even tracking what you throw out?’ he wrote.
‘They’ve got a chip in here, and they’re monitoring what you throw out in the truck.’
In a follow up video, the man claimed he received a ‘naughty note’ from the council for failing to remove the lids from his disposed bottles.
‘So, someone’s looking at the bins,’ he said.
‘Whether someone’s snooping and looking in my bins or the truck is, I don’t know.
‘I’m getting a fair bit of hate from my last video. I think people didn’t understand, this is a chip so it just registers your address… it weighs the bin, the truck weighs the bin and the truck films what comes out of your bin.’
The man said his rubbish was being ‘tracked’ by a chip in the underside of the bin (pictured)
The chip resembles a Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, which are typically used to identify bins and their collection details such as the address, which can be used if someone reports their bin has gone missing.
Some Aussies claimed they had received warnings from their councils based on what rubbish they had put in their bins.
‘We have had multiple ‘warnings’ put on ours for “incorrect use”,’ one person said.
‘If they weren’t monitoring, there’d be no warnings.’
However, a City of Casey spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday it ‘does not use and has no plans to use RFIDs or other tracking devices in any of its kerbside collection services’.
‘The City of Casey’s bin inspection program involves a manual inspection for contamination in previously contaminated recycling or food and garden bins’.
The Horsham Rural City Council, in Victoria’s north-west, does use RFID tags on its organic waste and glass bins.
According to its website, the council uses the tags to ensure the bins are ‘at the correct property before [they are] emptied’.
RFID technology is used by councils across the country when collecting rubbish bins (stock)
‘The RFID tag doesn’t transmit all the time, it’s only activated when it’s in close proximity (a few centimetres) to the receiver on the truck,’ it said.
‘Most of the time it doesn’t do anything as it doesn’t have its own power source.’
While the RFID tags have been rolled out in many council areas across the country, some Australians have complained they were given little information about their use.
In response to media speculation in 2017, Randwick City Council was forced to make a statement on its website.
‘A recent story by Channel 7 News would have you believe it’s some sort of spying device. The truth is a lot less sensational,’ the update read.
‘As many residents would be aware, it’s been there for ten years, it saves council money and makes managing your rubbish more efficient.
‘The tag is allocated to the property address where the bin lives. Each time it’s collected, Council’s garbage trucks record the bin tag number, the time of collection and the weight of the bin.’
