Animal bins: Visitors of a park in Cijantung, Pasar Rebo in East Jakarta walk toward a set of trash bins in the form of frogs
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The city's new animal- and fruit-styled trash bins have apparently attracted the attention of thieves and vandals, with the Sanitation Agency planning an undercover operation to combat the crimes.
'Agency officers will go undercover and patrol around the trash bins to catch the thieves. We are afraid the thieves will steal the bins to sell them at Pagi Market or others,' agency deputy head Isnawa Adji said as quoted by beritajakarta.com.
'The head of the sanitation office in Menteng district reported to me that 14 trash bins that were installed at 7 p.m. were all gone by 2 a.m.,' Isnawa said on Sunday.
He said he would deploy his officers around the clock and they would be tasked with watching the locations and catching any criminals on site.
Reports of vandalism on the trash bins were also received by Isnawa's office.
In December last year, the agency introduced a new design for public trash bins in the shape of different animals and fruit, including frogs, penguins, pandas, watermelons and mangoes, among others.
Each design has three bins for sorting the trash. The agency distributed over 1,800 sets of the bins, worth Rp 9 billion (US$666,000), in an attempt to reduce littering.
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