Bird Robot in Vračar starting June – production of modernly designed recycling containers in the pipeline

Ever since it was presented, the bird robot has drawn great attention of the public, and the citizens of Belgrade will be able to “feed” it with tin cans already at the beginning of June. This unique bronze sculpture for recycling will be installed in two locations in our capital city – in front of the municipality of Vračar and in Slavija’s park. The bird that eats cans is still without name, and the open competition for its godfather should be announced soon.

According to the words of the people from NGO “Sfera”, which has launched "The Belgrade Recycling Campaign - Octopus 2", of which central figure is the bird robot, the manifestation in June is going to include three accompanying events: promotion of students’ inventions dedicate to recycling, presentation of artistic containers "Arteco" and cultural programme under slogan “Our environment can be a garden, but when we neglect it, it turns into a dump”.

The President of NGO "Sfera", Biljana Biba Vicković, says that the funds are being collected for production of "Arteco" containers that will be donated to schools in the boroughs of Vračar and New Belgrade.

"Arteco" recycling containers (pet packaging, aluminum, paper, electronic waste) will be placed on the floors of primary schools on the territory of Belgrade, and the funds collected from the sale of recycling raw materials will be spent on procurement of equipment that is necessary for education. Pupils will vote for priorities in procurement of aforementioned equipment. Installation of the containers will run parallel to the organization of educational environmental workshops in schools.

("Arteco" containers - art to ecology)

- The workshops, which are meant to educate kids and raise their awareness of good social habits, development of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as healthy life, will be organized in association with the Youth Office in 18 schools in borough of New Belgrade and 8 primary and 4 secondary schools in borough of Vračar, between June and December 2009.

"The Belgrade Recycling Campaign – Octopus 2” is one of the accompanying programmes of this year’s campaign “Let’s Clean Serbia”, which was launched by the Ministry of Environment Protection and Spatial Planning in association with other institutions. The main aim of "The Belgrade Recycling Campaign – Octopus 2” is education and raising of pupils’, students’ and citizens’ awareness of environmental responsibility under slogan "let’s protect the environment since it is the only one we have".

Ticket Culture

Thanks to modern solutions, the bird robot also invites and animates passers-by to throw waste in it, after which the user gets the award – the ticket thanknote. According to the plan, several such tickets will enable discounts for cultural and sports events in the city.

- The ticket culture is a significant part of "The Belgrade Recycling Campaign - Octopus 2", and the ambassadors of this part of the campaign are the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Sport. Thanks to their support, public appeal will be made to cultural and sports institutions in the city to introduce discounts on sports and cultural events during the year for the citizens of Belgrade.

How does bird robot work?

The bird robot stimulates passers-by in the city in an attractive way to throw a can of coca-cola, beer, juice in it and contribute to the recycling process in that way. The bird robot animates the passers-by with voice messages like "hi, how are you", luminous eyes with words “throw can inhere” written on them, by moving beak’s parts... According the announcement of NGO “Sfera”, our famous actors will lend the voice to the bird robot.

Sensors for activation of these functions are turned on every time a passer-by approaches the bird robot. After throwing the can in the peak, the passer-by gets the ticket thanknote, which enables various discounts (theater, cinema, sport event, etc.). By means of mobile system connected to a microcontroller (microchip), the bird robot will be sending e-mails to report on the state of cans in the storage or possible malfunctions. The locations where bird robots should be installed are parks, sports centres, playgrounds for kids….

If you want to help campaign "Octopus 2", you can use PDF file to download the offer for donation.