I thought this might be of interest to the Thingiverse community.

I asked the organizers and they said the competition is open to people from
all countries. Also asked about licenses and they said that designers
retain all rights over their designs until they enter an agreement with a
manufacturer (which may or may not happen). I've included the
relevant excerpts below. If you have any questions, check out
join.dk/#sortyourtrashcan or ask them directly.

Cheers,
Catarina

http://www.sortyourtrashcan.com/

*From the organizers:*
Well, the typical process behind this is that designers can upload their
sketches on Join.dk <http://join.dk/> (after creating a user profile), and
then everybody else (designers, producers and citizens etc.) can like and
comment on the design to inspire the designer to make modifications. The
designer uploading a design still have the rights to his/her own design, so
it isn't the kind of open source you are thinking about I'm guessing -
although everything is for the public to see and comment on.

Vestforbrænding Waste Management is the company behind the competition, and
doesn't have any rights to produce a design before negotiating, and is not
obliged to buy the winning design either - e.g. any interested producer
watching the competition can also buy an interesting design before
Vestforbrænding can. You can see the short video explaining the concept on
Join.dk <http://join.dk/> to the right if that helps :-)

 *1ST PRIZE € 5000 | DEADLINE 10/28/2012*

The average Dane generates about 624 kg. of waste per year. 12% of the
daily waste is recycled and as Denmark’s largest waste mangement company,
Vestforbrænding, we want to increase this amount.

By sorting our trash we can reduce our overall solid waste significantly,
and we already have the facilities to start recycling more resources.

We know that people are much more inclined to sort their trash if the waste
bin is placed close to their house – e.g. in their garage or next to their
main entrance door. But having a large waste container just next to your
kitchen window easily disrupt the harmony of the citizen’s ideal picture of
a home.

Recycling starts with sorting our everyday trash and we need your help to
make it easier.

Enter the contest at join.dk/#sortyourtrashcan and show us your version of
a userfriendly sorting-can that fits the private Danish household.