When Supervisor Danny Sauter requested more trash cans in his district, Public Works deflected by announcing the relaunch of the costly Slim Silhouette to replace existing ‘90s-era cans already on the streets, but they’re not adding additional trash cans to the mix, which doesn't solve the shortage problem.

On Thursday, Supervisor Danny Sauter called a public hearing asking for 1,500 new trash cans in his district, which includes North Beach and Chinatown, citing that the insufficiently few existing trash cans scattered throughout his densely populated district are often overflowing, which several district residents echoed at the hearing.

According to the Chronicle, San Francisco Public Works announced during the hearing that the agency intended to replace all of the city’s existing green trash cans, which were installed in the ’90s, with the 2022 contest-winning Slim Silhouette prototype using $15 million in funds from a reserve account.

Meanwhile, Mission Local reports that Ian Schneider, spokesman for Public Works, which is currently seeking a trash can manager, brushed off Sauter’s request for additional trash cans, reviving old, unfounded claims that the Newsom administration used when they removed 1,000 trash cans in 2007 — that more trash cans somehow equal more litter.

SFist has published nearly a dozen posts over the years chronicling San Francisco’s ludicrously drawn out trash can saga. Back when Newsom was mayor in 2007, San Francisco initially had 4,500 trash cans, until he pulled half of them off the streets in a misguided effort to reduce litter in the city by 50 percent over five years. The plan did not work, and mayor Ed Lee began bringing the trash cans back out ten years later.

Dating as far back as 2021, supervisors were able to simply order additional trash cans upon request, but Mission Local notes that’s no longer the case. Sauter said that the city’s trash cans “are elusive” and ”randomly disappear overnight. They don’t follow a standard policy. Instead, their placement and removal is simply the result of who makes the most noise.’”

Schneider at Public Works said the same thing in not so many words — the trash cans are removed upon request from residents or if they have a history of vandalism or litter, while denying that the city has a shortage of trash cans. Sauter and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood called on Public Works and Recology staffers to come up with better solutions for keeping sidewalks cleaner, including using drones to monitor illegal dumping and sensors to alert employees when a bin is tipped over.

In July 2021, SFist first reported on the comically drawn out design and selection of Public Works’s smart trash can prototypes, which cost between $12,000 and $20,000 per piece and were projected to take four years to fully install on city streets. A year later, six models were released at various locations for residents to try out and vote on using a QR code.

It was revealed in October 2022 that respondents actually preferred a bulky out-of-the-box model called The BearSaver compared to the more modern-looking prototypes, but the sleek Slim Silhouette was ultimately chosen. Then, in January 2024, the whole project was put on hold due to the city’s budget deficit.

Mission Local notes that the city will be issuing a formal proposal for the manufacturing of the new trash cans this month.  

Previously: San Francisco Budget Cuts Trash Plans for City's New Fancy, Expensive Trash Cans

Image courtesy of San Francisco Public Works