From now on, drivers in Osaka Japan will no longer have to keep their distance when driving behind local sewage trucks to avoid their foul odor. That’s because sewage trucks now smell like delicious chocolate.
Apparently, four Osaka-based companies recently joined forces to come up with a solution to mask the disgusting smell of vacuum trucks commonly used to collect sewage in the Japanese city. Five days ago, they announced that they had met their goal, and that moving forward, sewage trucks will emit a pleasant chocolate smell instead of the dreadful owner they were notorious for.
Japanese newspaper Asahi reports that their miraculous solution is based on a five year-old product developed by Yamamoto Fragrances in collaboration with Shikibo, a manufacturer of industrial products. Called ‘Deo-Magic’, their creation was a pleasant-smelling deodorizer that has since then been used primarily in baby diapers and pet odor-eliminating products. To solve the smelly problem of Osaka sanitation trucks, someone had the brilliant idea to infuse the vehicles’ lubricating oil with Deo-Magic deodorizer and add a strong chocolate fragrance to mask any bad smell.
According to a recent promotional video showing a test run of the chocolaty-smelling sewage trucks, the initiative has been receiving very positive feedback from all parties involved – the local community, who no longer have to scramble whenever they see the trucks approaching, and the truck workers themselves, who no longer have to put up with the disgusting smell every day.
However, the reaction on Japanese social media, has been less appreciative than expected. A lot of people seem to have a problem with the association between chocolate and feces, with parents of young children going as far as to suggest that the unfortunate association between the similarly colored things might actually encourage kids to indulge in a gag-inducing bathroom snack. (sigh)
“Why did they have to use the smell of something brown? They should’ve used a fresh orange fragrance instead,” one Twitter user wrote. “What happens when people want to lick the chocolate smell in the air?”, “I’ll never be able to eat chocolate ever again,” others added. I guess there’s no satisfying some people…
If, for some reason, you’d be interested in deodorizer-infused lubricating oil, Toho, another company involved in the project, has announced that it will be selling the Deo Magic VC1 oil in 20-litre (5.3 gallon) cans, at a price of 35,000 yen ($344).
Sources: RocketNews24, VICE Munchies
