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Urban Design Observations, San Francisco Edition: Bizarre Public Trash Can
One of you west coasters needs to explain how this thing works
I'm from New York, so everything in San Francisco looks bizarre to me: The hills, the architecture, the parking meters, the street furniture. A good case in point is this public trash can, spotted on Cortland Street in the Bernal Heights area:
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Enter a caption (optional)I can't make heads nor tails of this thing. According to the perforated letters and the arrows "LITTER" is supposed to go in the bottom, which is obvious enough, but what is one meant to "RECYCLE" up top, and why the heck is that top unit shaped like that? What's with the grate? It looks like something one is meant to grind a cigarette out on, but who wants embers falling onto potentially flammable litter below?
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You're supposed to drop bottles and cans in the top part so someone else can pick them up and recycle for the refund. The grate is there so fluids can drop down into the bottom.
this was a bolt-on upgrade from the older cans that had no recycling, they are slowly being phased out and replaced with these new round ones that have integrated recycling
Its a common sight to see public trashcans in SF emptied of their contents as people look for cans and bottles in them. You will find a mostly empty trashcan that is surrounded from the outside by a pile of trash. This modification is an attempt by the city to combat this problem.
My guess is it allows people who collect cans for a refund at recycling facilities, to collect them from the top instead of digging around in the trashcan. From the top they get to drain into the trashcan, and air-dry.
Yeah, That's totally the reason.
Not from San Fransisco, but if I had to guess the recycle portion is a retrofit. They empty the litter then place a recycle can/bag under and pull the grate?
yes exactly its a retrofit, the old top section was just a solid piece of formed sheet metal. These style cans have been phased out and are slowly being replaced with a new design that incorporates both trash and recycling
Is this a joke?