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How often is garbage day? Also a bit wild to me that there's not like a communal dumpster. Some population dense cities also do underground dumpsters, has tha

How often is garbage day? Also a bit wild to me that there's not like a communal dumpster. Some population dense cities also do underground dumpsters, has that been floated?

deleted 2y ago
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the_third_wave 2y ago
I suspect the NYC underground is already so crowded with pipes and cables and under-sidewalk storage areas and other things there won't be much space for such dumpsters there.
tokioyoyo 2y ago
I feel like people would sue the city if they had to walk more than a minute to dump out their trash in NYC. I was there for a few months when the trash bins were being tested out, and seeing people complain about it was… interesting?
- dfxm12 2y ago
  Were the bins in the street and not on the sidewalk for this test? These complaint were likely really about taking away a parking spot. People would rather walk through a maze of garbage bags than make things slightly less convenient while driving. We are way too car-brained.
  - tokioyoyo 2y ago
    Yup, those were the exact complaints actually! A bit wild to my stupid brain, but it is what it is.
saalweachter 2y ago
The volume gets pretty intimidating; for Manhattan, you're talking around 140 cubic yards of garbage per block per week [0.1 yard / person, 1400 people / block], which would be ~4 of the 40-yard dumpsters (the 8 x 8 x 22' ones you'll see outside construction sites, roll-on/off trucks) per block. That they're able to collect that much garbage anyway means it's not an unsolvable problem, but going from using that much space once a week, in the form of piles of garbage on garbage day [with the remainder of the time it being scattered in smaller piles in buildings' garbage rooms], to 24/7, means you're losing like 12 parking spots per block, or like half a building lot per block, if you're storing them off the street.
- Retric 2y ago
  Noting says you need to wait a full week between collecting garbage. That’s the thing about changing how things work, you can change multiple things at the same time.
- nilamo 2y ago
  Oh no, less parking, however will we recover?
- eru 2y ago
  It's the same amount of trash either way. By your calculation, they would get 12 parking spots worth of random small pockets of space back per block. In reality, it would be more than that in usable space, because who want to do anything directly next to a distributed pile of garbage?
tetromino_ 2y ago
> How often is garbage day? For general household trash, if you are eligible for DSNY collection, it's two times per week except for some holidays. Recycling and compost are once a week. If you contract to a private garbage collection company, it's whatever you specify in the contract. > Also a bit wild to me that there's not like a communal dumpster. Large apartment buildings of course do have trash chutes leading to a dumpster of some sort. But inside or outside smaller buildings, there is no space. > Some population dense cities also do underground dumpsters, has that been floated? There is an underground garbage handling system on Roosevelt Island. The idea of underground dumpsters in other parts of the city been floated, but it's impossible because there is too much density of existing underground infrastructure and much of this infrastructure is not mapped, making it impossible to plan an excavation project of such a scale. See e.g. https://dsny.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/reports/future-of-trash-april-2023.pdf https://dsny.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/reports/fut... (pdf). (There are also interesting engineering questions of how underground dumpsters would work after heavy snowfall.)
- cogman10 2y ago
  Interesting. Reading the report it looks like the biggest issue any sort of communal trash system faces is we simply don't have that in the US. NY would need a lot of trash trucks which are only being manufactured outside the US. They'd be one of the only cities doing this as well. It looks like underground would be an option, but the big deal breaker is potentially needing more frequent pickup and specialized trucks.
  - eru 2y ago
    > NY would need a lot of trash trucks which are only being manufactured outside the US. Put them on a boat? Or are the legal hurdles to importing so high?
    - rincebrain 2y ago
      It becomes an ongoing maintenance problem even if you import them - if nobody in the US has experience servicing them, and nobody else is buying them, then you end up being the sole subsidizer of the cost of things like having a stockpile of parts around.
deleted 2y ago
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How often is garbage day? Also a bit wild to me that there's not like a communal dumpster. Some population dense cities also do underground dumpsters, has that been floated?

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

the_third_wave 2y ago

I suspect the NYC underground is already so crowded with pipes and cables and under-sidewalk storage areas and other things there won't be much space for such dumpsters there.

tokioyoyo 2y ago

I feel like people would sue the city if they had to walk more than a minute to dump out their trash in NYC. I was there for a few months when the trash bins were being tested out, and seeing people complain about it was… interesting?

dfxm12 2y ago
Were the bins in the street and not on the sidewalk for this test? These complaint were likely really about taking away a parking spot. People would rather walk through a maze of garbage bags than make things slightly less convenient while driving. We are way too car-brained.
- tokioyoyo 2y ago
  Yup, those were the exact complaints actually! A bit wild to my stupid brain, but it is what it is.

saalweachter 2y ago

The volume gets pretty intimidating; for Manhattan, you're talking around 140 cubic yards of garbage per block per week [0.1 yard / person, 1400 people / block], which would be ~4 of the 40-yard dumpsters (the 8 x 8 x 22' ones you'll see outside construction sites, roll-on/off trucks) per block. That they're able to collect that much garbage anyway means it's not an unsolvable problem, but going from using that much space once a week, in the form of piles of garbage on garbage day [with the remainder of the time it being scattered in smaller piles in buildings' garbage rooms], to 24/7, means you're losing like 12 parking spots per block, or like half a building lot per block, if you're storing them off the street.

Retric 2y ago
Noting says you need to wait a full week between collecting garbage. That’s the thing about changing how things work, you can change multiple things at the same time.
nilamo 2y ago
Oh no, less parking, however will we recover?
eru 2y ago
It's the same amount of trash either way. By your calculation, they would get 12 parking spots worth of random small pockets of space back per block. In reality, it would be more than that in usable space, because who want to do anything directly next to a distributed pile of garbage?

tetromino_ 2y ago

> How often is garbage day? For general household trash, if you are eligible for DSNY collection, it's two times per week except for some holidays. Recycling and compost are once a week. If you contract to a private garbage collection company, it's whatever you specify in the contract. > Also a bit wild to me that there's not like a communal dumpster. Large apartment buildings of course do have trash chutes leading to a dumpster of some sort. But inside or outside smaller buildings, there is no space. > Some population dense cities also do underground dumpsters, has that been floated? There is an underground garbage handling system on Roosevelt Island. The idea of underground dumpsters in other parts of the city been floated, but it's impossible because there is too much density of existing underground infrastructure and much of this infrastructure is not mapped, making it impossible to plan an excavation project of such a scale. See e.g. https://dsny.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/reports/future-of-trash-april-2023.pdf https://dsny.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/reports/fut... (pdf). (There are also interesting engineering questions of how underground dumpsters would work after heavy snowfall.)

cogman10 2y ago
Interesting. Reading the report it looks like the biggest issue any sort of communal trash system faces is we simply don't have that in the US. NY would need a lot of trash trucks which are only being manufactured outside the US. They'd be one of the only cities doing this as well. It looks like underground would be an option, but the big deal breaker is potentially needing more frequent pickup and specialized trucks.
- eru 2y ago
  > NY would need a lot of trash trucks which are only being manufactured outside the US. Put them on a boat? Or are the legal hurdles to importing so high?
  - rincebrain 2y ago
    It becomes an ongoing maintenance problem even if you import them - if nobody in the US has experience servicing them, and nobody else is buying them, then you end up being the sole subsidizer of the cost of things like having a stockpile of parts around.

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