Trash Recycling

German's are holier than thou when it comes to separating trash for recycling. Their trash bins exhibit labels such as "Glass", "Paper", "Bio", "Packaging" (metal, plastic packaging) and "Restmüll" (remaining trash that can't be recycled). While this is descriptive for the content, it doesn't conjure up a larger conceptual model. Adaptive Path's Information Architect Leah Buley's trip to the California Academy of Sciences prompted the essay of the company's current newletter issue.
In the article she showed a picture of trash bins at the academy and came to the conclusion that labels matter after all! I couldn't agree more. The image in Leah's essay inspired me to do a little Google Image research on trash recycling.

trash bins at the California Academy: Image by Leah Buley

Spanish trash bins

German trash bins

Maltese trash bins