Listen up, Seattle. It's time to talk trash.

Where does your trash go? (senseable.mit.edu)

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's SENSEable City Lab launched an exhibit at Seattle's Central Library Saturday that shows the real-time results of their latest project -- an effort to track the city's trash through the waste management system.

And the city is paying attention.

"It's a unique opportunity to double check that what we think is going on is actually going on," said Tim Croll, solid waste director at Seattle Public Utilities. "If we find anomalies, we want to fix that."

The project is funded by Waste Management, which invested $300,000 in the researchers' work in Seattle, New York and London -- and is about to see its systems exposed nationwide.

"Even though it means taking that risk of airing that dirty laundry, it also means it's a tremendous opportunity for us to get beyond that out of sight out of mind with the public," Rita Smith, community education director for Waste Management in the Northwest told an audience gathered at the library auditorium.

"There are always ways we can improve."

MIT has been tracking Seattle's trash since mid-summer, when volunteers from around the city handed over everything from soda cans to an old washing machine for researchers to outfit with GPS-enabled devices and follow on their journey.

The project aims not only to uncloak and possibly improve waste management systems with ground-level data, but to show the public exactly what happens to the things they throw away -- and maybe make them think twice about how they do it.

It's a lesson other cities could use a lot more than environmentally conscious Seattle. But the city remains an ideal host, said team director Carlo Ratti.

"If you want to make suggestions about improvements, you have to look at sophisticated systems," said Ratti. The city's eco-enthusiasm has only helped.

"It's a good place to start," he said.

Ratti expects analyzable results in three months, but anyone can check in on the project at the library's fifth-floor exhibit, which displays the location, path and time in the field for every piece of trash tagged in Seattle as it moves in real time.

To see what the data look like, click here. The library exhibit will be available for viewing until Oct. 11.