From the merging of snazzy technology and green governmental policy comes the young urban professional's dream gadget: an eco-friendly iPhone app for the city of San Francisco. The new technology, dubbed EcoFinder, is a location-based guide that helps residents recycle and safely dispose of hard-to-deal-with objects like printer cartridges, fluorescent bulbs, gas tanks ... and even those old mannequins you've been trying forever to get rid of.

The app provides a database of drop-off points and waste receptacles in San Francisco that was previously only available on sfenvironment.org. With other applications like Google Earth, users can let their phone guide them directly where they need to go (or to whom they need to call, since many services offer pick-up).

So far, almost 3,000 people have downloaded the app, said San Francisco Environment Internet communications coordinator Lawrence Grodeska. That number is likely to increase come October, when mandatory recycling and composting laws, with potential $500 fines for violations, set in.