Germans are obsessed with separating their trash. They have a bin for everything -- glass, paper, wrappers, food leftovers, and a small one for "everything else." Those who fail to categorize their waste in colored containers risk being socially shunned as enemies of the environment and can even earn themselves a municipal fine (at least according to a popular urban myth).

Honestly, throwing something away can get overwhelming at times. But professional help has just been outlawed.

Inventive would-be trash separators in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia hoped to sell their services not to the rich and lazy but to landlords in public housing projects that "have their noses full" (a common German expression) of mixed rubbish because their low-income tenants simply ignore the rules.

The state court in Düsseldorf said on Tuesday, Jan. 22, that the company in question would present a danger to public health by moving mouldy cheese, dirty diapers and other forms of noxious waste from one bin to another.

Granted -- germs, fungi and toxic chemicals do tend to hang out in trash cans. But we figured that the sorters would don gloves and maybe even a protective mask before going at it.

The court, however, preferred to leave trash-touching to municipal rubbish collectors. But what about the health of that landlord with a nose full of trash?