4 ms·

The design looks like it ticks some of the requirement boxes. But from my time in NYC I see two primary problems: 1) the garbage crew literally throw the cans.

The design looks like it ticks some of the requirement boxes. But from my time in NYC I see two primary problems: 1) the garbage crew literally throw the cans. Can plastic withstand a daily beating of being thrown against concrete? 2) the garbage cans often find new spots on the same corner when it’s convenient for the garbage crew to just put it there. Are they really going to spend time putting the interior containers back in their holders?

xvf22 7y ago
They only tested them in the summer so hopefully there aren't any temperature issues which could affect winter durability of the plastic.
MisterTea 7y ago
They throw the cans because they're heavy steel monsters weighing 30 lbs or 13.6 kg. One thing I learned being in a family business that dealt with portable entertainment, the heavier something is the less tolerance a person has for being gentle with it. They're mad that the object is heavy so they take it out on it by banging it down or tossing it because "screw you, you heavy piece of crap!" A lighter pail will be less of a burden and the worker hopefully won't be as annoyed with it.
- ch4s3 7y ago
  They throw the plastic bags as well, often ripping them open in the process.
  - SiempreViernes 7y ago
    Blame whoever made their schedule.
  - MisterTea 7y ago
    Thankfully they throw them into the truck. But the same heavy thing problem applies with bags too. A bag of wet restaurant trash can weigh upward of 50 lbs or 22.6 kg. And of course do you think all business owners buy strong quality trash bags? Half of them are ripped before they even make it to the curb and the rest are torn up by rats. Trash workers can't help these things. I worked with a small trash compactor company and owners skimping on bag quality was an issue.
    - ch4s3 7y ago
      I'm strictly referring to residential trash, often in half filled bags. My experience observing this is limited to a few neighborhoods, but I regularly see it in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. The workers there often carelessly toss around bags and leave large piles of loose trash on the sidewalks that then sits there for weeks at a time. Surely the city/building owners/business have a role to play, but let's not pretend that the trash workers are all doing a great job. Ideally the city would require stand bins that could be lifted by an arm on the truck (like many other cities in the US).
- michaelt 7y ago
  > They're mad that the object is heavy When you get above a few kilograms there's also a biomechanical issue - the same reason the world record for clean and jerk is much higher than the world record for bicep curls, despite moving the weight a lot further. Lifting something from waist height to chin height quickly, using big leg muscles to give it momentum, is easier than lifting it slowly using only arm muscles. And nobody lifting 10kg trash bags for 8 hours a day is doing it the difficult way :)

xvf22 7y ago

They only tested them in the summer so hopefully there aren't any temperature issues which could affect winter durability of the plastic.

MisterTea 7y ago

They throw the cans because they're heavy steel monsters weighing 30 lbs or 13.6 kg. One thing I learned being in a family business that dealt with portable entertainment, the heavier something is the less tolerance a person has for being gentle with it. They're mad that the object is heavy so they take it out on it by banging it down or tossing it because "screw you, you heavy piece of crap!" A lighter pail will be less of a burden and the worker hopefully won't be as annoyed with it.

ch4s3 7y ago
They throw the plastic bags as well, often ripping them open in the process.
- SiempreViernes 7y ago
  Blame whoever made their schedule.
- MisterTea 7y ago
  Thankfully they throw them into the truck. But the same heavy thing problem applies with bags too. A bag of wet restaurant trash can weigh upward of 50 lbs or 22.6 kg. And of course do you think all business owners buy strong quality trash bags? Half of them are ripped before they even make it to the curb and the rest are torn up by rats. Trash workers can't help these things. I worked with a small trash compactor company and owners skimping on bag quality was an issue.
  - ch4s3 7y ago
    I'm strictly referring to residential trash, often in half filled bags. My experience observing this is limited to a few neighborhoods, but I regularly see it in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. The workers there often carelessly toss around bags and leave large piles of loose trash on the sidewalks that then sits there for weeks at a time. Surely the city/building owners/business have a role to play, but let's not pretend that the trash workers are all doing a great job. Ideally the city would require stand bins that could be lifted by an arm on the truck (like many other cities in the US).
michaelt 7y ago
> They're mad that the object is heavy When you get above a few kilograms there's also a biomechanical issue - the same reason the world record for clean and jerk is much higher than the world record for bicep curls, despite moving the weight a lot further. Lifting something from waist height to chin height quickly, using big leg muscles to give it momentum, is easier than lifting it slowly using only arm muscles. And nobody lifting 10kg trash bags for 8 hours a day is doing it the difficult way :)