Uplifting garbage: These inspirational recycling bins could brighten your day

Never give up. Be Happy.

These are just some of the unexpected messages that greet people taking out the trash in Prince Rupert.

A local waste disposal company is festooning some of its outdoor bins with messages designed to brighten people's day and the city as a whole.

"It makes people smile and the customers like it,"said Rupert Disposal truck driver James Bourgeois, Sr.

For now the inspirational bins are limited to the Cow Bay neighbourhood, but the company is planning to expandthe programto the rest of Prince Rupert's downtownin an effort to make the area cleaner and moreattractive.

"There's a lot of boarded up windows, empty store spaces," saidBourgeois, Sr.

Some of the art work will have a theme, such as a sunset near the Sunset Villa seniors' home and the message:"Stay alive, don't drink and drive," outside a liquor store.

But the ultimate goal is to add abit of joy to the task of taking out the trash.

"You're walking down the street and you just look at a garbage can and you walk by it," said Bourgeois, Sr.

"Now people are looking at the different cans that we're putting out there just to see what we'regonnaput on them next."

With files from George Baker.

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