In the French Alps is a city called Grenoble. It is protected from the forces of laziness, ignorance and filthiness by a masked superhero called Super Tri. Translated to "super sorting," the character's mission is to educate and enforce strict environmental standards, specifically recycling. Unlike the costumed vigilantes that we've seen here in the United States, Grenoble's protector is backed by the city itself as part of an aggressive campaign against littering and waste.

While his true name is unknown to us, biographical information on Super Tri's official website indicates that he was born in 1977 and abandoned in a garbage can. The infant was rescued by French sanitation workers and raised as one of their own. There are other details as well that we trust Google to have translated with 100% accuracy:

Life goes. Until it goes any.

My "father" of adoption, Lulu, head of waste from La Ferte, is mutated in Grenoble in July 2010.

And then Super Titi has the balls.

Originally known as Super Titi (we thought it'd be more fun to not know what that means) Super Tri rose to prominence on the Internet with a series of videos in which he brought down environmental justice upon Grenoble's dirtiest citizens. The clips depict the hero attacking litterers with buckets of water, making unwarranted searches of their homes and even hiding in recycling bins to make sure they're being used properly. When Super Tri does encounter something like a plastic bag in the non-recyclable garbage bin, he falls to his knees and weeps.

Impressed with the vigilante's results, Grenoble officials put Super Tri on the payroll as part of an ongoing campaign to make the city greener. He has his own Facebook page and continues to make films as well as public appearances at schools.


Grenoble's Super Tri campaign was initiated last year, but the news comes to us now thanks to a post on Treehugger. If we may editorialize for a moment, it strikes us as quite a good idea to encourage recycling and civic cleanliness in this fashion. Where punitive fines fail to deter litterers, an obnoxious Frenchman in a mask will certainly succeed. Viva Super Tri!