If You Litter In Hong Kong, Your Face Could Be Posted All Over The City

Leave it to Hong Kong to come up with a brilliant method for stopping litterbugs.

Thanks to environmental organization, Hong Kong Cleanup, people who litter will see their faces plastered all over the city as part of a new anti-littering campaign called The Face Of Litter.

But how does the city get pictures of their faces?

This is where it gets genius: The organization actually analyzes DNA samples found on the litter -- along with demographic information -- to create digital renderings of each offender's face.

Context clues, such as location, litter type and the like, are factored in when creating the renderings to create a more accurate representation of the offender. If the litter is, for instance, a cigarette, it means the litterbug is likely a smoker.

Knowing this, the artist or scientist creating the portrait can alter certain aspects -- such as skin texture or wrinkles -- to better reflect that of a smoker.

It's pretty brilliant.

The campaign, a collaboration with Ecozine and The Nature Conservancy, officially launched in the city's subway systems and in digital and print media on Earth Day.

Citations: Hong Kong Anti Littering Campaign Uses DNA Analysis to Digitally Recreate The Faces of Litter Offenders (Laughing Squid)