Fumo
A musical pole hopes to encourage smokers to properly dispose of their fag ends, rewarding responsibility with music and a show of LED lights
Cigarette butts and off-white chewing gum are the two decorative staples most cities could probably do without, and one all-singing, all-dancing novelty garbage pole hopes to rid us of the former.
Curious as to just why cigarette litter tends to be ignored - as opposed to the high level of awareness around dumping other kings of trash - Dutch and Turkish design agency ioglo built Fumo, an interactive bin for butt disposal. Each time a cigarette is stumped out in the unit, it responds with a lightshow of 56 LEDs that dance in time to a 5-10 second musical number. The tunes vary at least a little as Fumo has 50 different sound samples at its disposal.
Every Fumo unit is hand crafted and customisable, meaning the company is able to commission out the device to different locales according to need - and it is already in talk with one major hospital in the Netherlands.
Ultimately the aim is to encourage consumer conscientiousness for cigarette litter disposal in place of other measures like fines, which can be difficult to enforce. Fumo might enjoy more success if each cigarette turned the music off rather than on, but regardless, it's a novel approach to engaging the public about an oft-overlooked topic.
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