Green and Clean

So as I was making my breakfast this morning I found myself watching the garbage man hard at work in the alley behind my house. Here's a summary of the scene that unfolded before me...The white garbage truck rumbles down the street to stop behind my house. The garbage man gets out, moves the huge dumpster in order for the truck to easily lift it up and dump its contents into the bed. He get back in the truck to do the dumping, then gets back out. Now what he does next is what caused me to pause. The man pulls out a can of spray paint. Any graffiti that he sees on the dumpster he sprays over leaving the dumpster looking almost shiny. Then he moves it back into it's little nook gets back in the truck, moves down a half of block to begin the whole process over again.
Why I found this so fascinating I'm not quite sure, but I was intrigued. There was a meticulous manner in which even the garbage is dumped here. Very different from back home.
Vancouver is in the running for being the greenest city in the world. I saw this first hand as a handful of students yelled "no, you must recycle" as I went to throw a can away earlier this week. I missed the fact that there were huge blue recycling bins three feet away. I don't think I will miss there looming presence again...