Go Green With Your Pet’s Waste

In this article, the Japanese company Tohoku Kankyo is selling a robotic dog-shaped trash can.  The “Samu” can compost 600g to 1kg of food leftovers or pet feces per day, in an environmentally friendly way.  “Samu” only needs to be refilled every few months with a substance that helps break down the waste.  To use the “Samu” you just put the waste into the robot, close the lid, push a button and it does the rest on it’s own.

From an informatics perspective, I see the Samu as an alternate way to get rid of waste.  I like the environmentally friendly aspect of this device, but it seems like an over-done solution.  I think it’s a good solution, but when the Samu costs $900, it doesn’t have a great cost-benefit ratio.  If it were significantly cheaper, i.e. like $20 then maybe, but for now I think I’ll use the regular trashcan.