Government officials at all levels seem to believe their job in life is to annoy us - high taxes, absurd rules and regulations, traffic cams, tax agencies touting their power to track us down (with satellite imagery and ominous voices being used in commercials ).

Now comes one more example: recycling bins with tracking chips to monitor whether people are obeying Big Brother:

Alexandria residents soon will have to pay for larger home recycling bins featuring built-in monitoring devices.

The City Council added a mandatory $9 charge to its residents' annual waste collection fee.

That cash -- roughly $180,000 collected from 19,000 residents-- will pay for new larger recycling carts equipped with computer microchips, which will allow the city to keep tabs on its bins and track resident participation in the city's recycling program.

"If you know who's participating in the programs, you can focus your education and outreach to those who are not participating," said Stacy Herring, Alexandria's recycling coordinator.

So in addition to coercing people to participate in recycling, the city will charge them for the pleasure!

Talk about adding insult to injury.

Next up: ankle bracelets for all?