Garbage Gestapo
You don't know anal until you've lived in Yokohama, Japan. And if you have, you still don't know anal until you've lived in Kamikatsu, another town in Japan. That's because in Yokohama, residents are required to sort their trash into 10 strictly defined categories, while in Kamikatsu, the number is 44. According to this New York Times article (prefab login and password here), Yokohamans are to do this with socks: "If only one, it is burnable; a pair goes into used cloth, though only if the socks 'are not torn, and the left and right sock match.'"
To enforce compliance, volunteers patrol the neighborhood and notify mis-dumpers of their malfeasance. In one case, a couple who made repeated mistakes in handling their garbage was evicted after one of the garbage patrol complained to the landlord. In another case, a woman was reprimanded for marking her garbage with a pen that wasn't thick enough. The woman was so shamed that she was unable to take the trash out for a month. That stinks.
To enforce compliance, volunteers patrol the neighborhood and notify mis-dumpers of their malfeasance. In one case, a couple who made repeated mistakes in handling their garbage was evicted after one of the garbage patrol complained to the landlord. In another case, a woman was reprimanded for marking her garbage with a pen that wasn't thick enough. The woman was so shamed that she was unable to take the trash out for a month. That stinks.