Part of the issue with these cans has to do with the maintenance of them, which the city contracts out to a third party.
“The contract for these [renaissance] trash cans came about in a way that very possibly could have been corrupt,” said Supervisor Haney.
Walter Wong was a permit expediter in San Francisco who pleaded guilty in 2020 to charges of conspiracy. He — and then director of the Department of Public Works, Mohammed Nuru — worked together to trade city contract gifts. The contract to maintain San Francisco’s trash cans went to a company called Alternate Choice LLC — owned by a family member of Wong — in 2018.
A ‘big belly’ trash can in District 6. (Christopher J. Beale/KQED)
City supervisors like Haney tried for years to get the trash cans in their districts replaced with newer, more effective models but say it was Nuru who stood in the way.
“He was adamant in his protection of these broken trash cans. And I think it was pretty clear that he was protecting his buddies who were giving us really crappy cans,” Haney said.
Wong is now participating with federal investigators in the corruption probe against Nuru, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges earlier this year after being arrested and indicted in 2020.
The road to the perfect can
Nuru did eventually set into motion a process to replace San Francisco’s green Renaissance cans with some new ones. But, off-the-rack cans — the kind you might find in another American city — weren’t considered suitable for the project.
The Department of Public Works want something tamper-proof, with wheels on the inner can so workers won’t get hurt emptying them, and a sensor that can tell when they’re full. Oh, and they have to be attractive. The department commissioned a custom-designed can.
The prototypes will cost an estimated $12,000 each and will be fabricated locally and tested alongside some off-the-rack designs. Gordon says the prototypes do cost a lot of money. “I don’t think anyone can say otherwise. But will it be money well spent? We hope so,” she said.
After prototyping, the selected can’s manufacturing is expected to cost less than half of the prototype, which is comparable to the price paid in other US cities.
The three trash can prototypes that will be created and tested in San Francisco. (Courtesy of Institute for Creative Integration)
This new-can-selection process has its critics. Supervisor Haney said, “Ultimately, San Francisco shouldn’t be in the trash can making business. The conditions that we face on our streets are not fundamentally different than an LA and New York, or Chicago, DC, Oakland, and there is plenty of data that we can look at in terms of prototypes, but here we are.”
The new cans
Three new trash can prototypes are being considered, with hopes they can solve many of the problems presented by the current cans.
