“Then that can starts to overflow, and then we end up with trash around it and that spreads,” she said. “North Beach is a vibrant neighborhood in San Francisco, and we want our city to look its best. We want to make sure that we can make it easy for [people] to do the right thing.”
Longtime city residents might shudder at the mention of a new trash can solution, given the city’s long and expensive history of failed attempts to tackle littered streets. In 2007, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom declared the city had “too many” bins, vowing to remove half. A decade later, the city determined there were too few, and opted to place — or replace — almost 40 on streets in the Mission District, to the tune of $1,600 each.
And, since 2021, city officials have been working on a garbage bin redesign, which first made headlines after three custom prototypes cost $12,000 to $20,000 a piece. In 2022, they selected the “Slim Silhouette,” a futuristic-looking canister with stainless-steel rods and small openings for trash and recyclables, which will cost an estimated $1,375 each to mass produce.
The saga has racked up a bill of more than half a million dollars already, not including the $10 million contract awarded last year to actually produce the new bins.
But North Beach’s new designer receptacles aren’t expected to significantly cost the city, which is currently facing a nearly $1 billion budget deficit.
Recology, which designed the bins, also paid for their fabrication. The city will only cover installation costs and routine collection services, which Sauter’s office said don’t require any additional budget allocation.
Short said the project is currently in a pilot phase, but depending on how well-used and effective it is, it could be expanded in the future.
So far, it seems like residents are enjoying the novelty. After Jeff Garfield finished his slice around 1 p.m. Friday, he dropped his empty container in one of the brand-new bins.
“It made a very pleasant plop sound, sort of similar to the plop sound that the pizza made from Tony’s that went right down into my stomach,” he said. “It just plopped right in there and settled down.”
