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One of the things that causes littering is a lack of trash cans or a lack of non-filled trash cans. Not all littering (or throwing recycling in the trash) is do

One of the things that causes littering is a lack of trash cans or a lack of non-filled trash cans. Not all littering (or throwing recycling in the trash) is done out of pure malice. If you make it easy for people to throw trash out, they generally will. If you make it hard to throw trash out, many will litter. Stronger fines and other enforcement would help, but the first thing is to make sure that you actually have accurate places to throw stuff out (or have the culture where people bring stuff with them and throw out at home, like some non-American countries). This article mentions how the streets got really bad during the pandemic when the city stopped doing certain things. SF, NYC, and other cities with trash problems could significantly solve this just by having more trash and recycling cans and by changing them more often. You'll notice how much cleaner DC and its surrounding urban areas are than SF and NYC and that's because they have a bigger commitment to making it easy to not litter and they do more cleaning.

disneygibson 5y ago
Tokyo has very few trash cans yet not much litter. It’s a cultural problem, not an engineering or city planning one.
- ryan_lane 5y ago
  Tokyo used to have a lot of trash cans and removed them after a terrorist attack. I think everyone would prefer to have the trash cans. It absolutely sucks to carry around your trash for hours, and not everyone does it. People do litter here, but there's an army of old people that clean the streets... like this article is suggesting.
tafda 5y ago
Worse than that, SF has tried removing trash cans on a theory they’re and attractive nuisance. An absence of trash cans works in Tokyo, not so much in North America: https://missionlocal.org/2021/03/newsoms-experiment-to-get-rid-of-public-trash-bins-in-san-francisco-seems-to-have-failed/ https://missionlocal.org/2021/03/newsoms-experiment-to-get-r...
- refurb 5y ago
  This seems self defeating? They removed the trash can near my corner. Sure, people used it for personal trash and often dumped unwanted items next to it. Getting rid of it seems…to make things worse? People still dump their trash, it’s just more spread out now.
dorianmariefr 5y ago
That’s what I wanted to do when I was in SF: put trash bins everywhere
jjav 5y ago
> One of the things that causes littering is a lack of trash cans or a lack of non-filled trash cans. Yes, surely a primary cause. There are areas without trashcans anywhere. Which is so insane. As public policy it seems obvious to maximize trashcans everywhere to make it convenient to keep it clean. The vast majority of people aren't out to be filthy, but humans are also lazy. To keep a city clean, make sure there is a trashcan within sight at all times no matter where you are, and nearly everyone will use them and keep things clean. Remove trashcans and lots of people will give up and litter. Same issue with public toilets. Make them available everywhere and nearly everyone will use them, everyone is happy. Take them away and the inevitable consequence is obvious, what else are people going to do.

disneygibson 5y ago

Tokyo has very few trash cans yet not much litter. It’s a cultural problem, not an engineering or city planning one.

ryan_lane 5y ago
Tokyo used to have a lot of trash cans and removed them after a terrorist attack. I think everyone would prefer to have the trash cans. It absolutely sucks to carry around your trash for hours, and not everyone does it. People do litter here, but there's an army of old people that clean the streets... like this article is suggesting.

tafda 5y ago

Worse than that, SF has tried removing trash cans on a theory they’re and attractive nuisance. An absence of trash cans works in Tokyo, not so much in North America: https://missionlocal.org/2021/03/newsoms-experiment-to-get-rid-of-public-trash-bins-in-san-francisco-seems-to-have-failed/ https://missionlocal.org/2021/03/newsoms-experiment-to-get-r...

refurb 5y ago
This seems self defeating? They removed the trash can near my corner. Sure, people used it for personal trash and often dumped unwanted items next to it. Getting rid of it seems…to make things worse? People still dump their trash, it’s just more spread out now.

dorianmariefr 5y ago

That’s what I wanted to do when I was in SF: put trash bins everywhere

jjav 5y ago

> One of the things that causes littering is a lack of trash cans or a lack of non-filled trash cans. Yes, surely a primary cause. There are areas without trashcans anywhere. Which is so insane. As public policy it seems obvious to maximize trashcans everywhere to make it convenient to keep it clean. The vast majority of people aren't out to be filthy, but humans are also lazy. To keep a city clean, make sure there is a trashcan within sight at all times no matter where you are, and nearly everyone will use them and keep things clean. Remove trashcans and lots of people will give up and litter. Same issue with public toilets. Make them available everywhere and nearly everyone will use them, everyone is happy. Take them away and the inevitable consequence is obvious, what else are people going to do.