Japan Embraces the Sweet Smell of Sewage Trucks

[Image Courtesy of Yamamoto/YouTube]

Sewage just got sweeter in Japan.

Four Osaka-based sewage companies joined forces on new technology to mask odors emanating from their trucks. The companies announced the rancid trucks would now emit a chocolate fragrance instead.

Yamamoto Fragrance and industrial products manufacturer Shikibo created "Deo Magic" deodorizer in 2011. That deodorizer has now been put into the lubricating oil used in the vacuum trucks with the added bonus of chocolate smells.

[Image Courtesy of Yamamoto/YouTube]

A promotional video put out by Yamamoto said test runs resulted in good results. Most people noted it was great to have a different smell than the typical foul odor that follows the trucks.

However, not everyone likes the idea. Some Osaka residents took to Twitter complaining about the correlation between chocolate and similarly-colored…waste. Others simply don't like the smell of chocolate and would rather it be citrus-scented instead.

[Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

Cities across the globe struggle with masking unpleasant odors. New York City, for example, is notorious for hot garbage wafting through city streets in the summer. So this isn't the first time a company has attempted to mask unsavory smells with something sweeter. In 2008, Sidney Torres wanted to freshen up New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The young entrepreneur dubbed the lemony scent Superfresh. Torres used it to sanitize the streets in the mornings, and even on occasion, a late-night partier looking to be spruced up.

However, we highly doubt anyone would want to be "spruced up" by the sewage vacuums, regardless of how great they smelled.

Toho company will start selling the Deo Magic VC1 oil soon. A 20-liter can of the chocolate deodorizer will run about $345 USD.

Via RocketNews24