[notjustanymike]

Trash cans aren't viable because of shortcomings in our infrastructure; we don't have alleyways. Large apartment buildings use dumpsters or basement trash rooms, but you can't exactly cart those out on to the sidewalk. Street side pickup is the only option barring rebuilding the city, and a garbage man isn't picking up an entire trash can. Having a truck pick up the garbage can would also encounter issues with space and time. That's how we landed on our current... well... "solution".

Also trash cans aren't foolproof. I've encountered more than a few of the critters digging through our refuse, along with a trash panda once or twice. The bags aren't rat proof either; it's not that they rip, but rather the rats chew through.

Complicated problem with a lot of legacy infrastructure debt.

[woodruffw]

This is true and also a simplification: NYC required steel trashcans for street pickup for decades, until getting rid of them for performance reasons (I believe the argument was that they made garbage pickup slower).

The city is now bringing back the trashcan requirement, but plastic this time. It remains to be seen how effective that will be (since rats will happily chew through heavy plastic to get to food).

Edit: I realized that I've also simplified: the new can requirement is for commercial pickups only. That's the majority of rat-inducing foot waste, but it's still just a partial solution.

[HPsquared]

Don't Americans have Wheelie Bins?

https://wikiwaste.org.uk/Wheelie_Bin

[cantSpellSober]

In many cities yes. The current mayor of NYC proposed using trash cans.

The proposal was met with open arms and without controversy (just kidding).

https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-homeowners-to-be-charged-for-...

[PennRobotics]

Taking the Trash Off the Streets: Innovative Waste-Management Solutions for New York City (2023)

https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/in...

[1over137]

Couldn't you repurpose on-street car parking for trash containers? (I suppose Americans love their cars too much for that...)

[yostrovs]

You forgot to mention the union of garbage men that fights against any kind of gains of efficiency. You could have easy-open small dumpsters that are found all over Europe, but that would take work away from a couple guys throwing bags of garbage into the truck.

[cantSpellSober]

Any real-world examples of the NYC sanitation doing this? Or just a generic "unions bad" comment?

[buzzy_hacker]

We can just put them on the street, replacing parking spots.

[Hikikomori]

Can also put them underground, they're getting popular here. Truck has a crane and just lifts them up.

[code_runner]

when walking through some neighborhoods (parts of park slope) i saw almost exclusively trash cans at every residence. At any rate, to say its impossible to implement trash cans just sounds nuts. I'm sure it truly is complicated, but not viable? I don't think so.

[notjustanymike]

You walked through the most expensive neighborhood in all of Brooklyn, home to multi-million dollar brownstones and full floor condos. Try poking at some denser neighborhoods, the problems will become more evident.

[code_runner]

even if we're talking densely populated areas, aren't cans just going to be better no matter what? The alternative is literally throwing plastic bags of trash into the street. I adore NYC and I look for every excuse I can to go. I understand that it has very unique issues that few, if any, cities on earth have to contend with. This one just seems pretty addressable. I need a youtube series or podcast about how it got to this point, whats been tried, and why it failed so I can fully comprehend it.