A load of garbage! San Francisco is planning to roll out new designer trash cans that cost a whopping $20K EACH
- Officials are currently trying to get 15 of the expensive trash cans made so they can test them out on the streets of San Francisco as part of a pilot program
- Officials have been planning for three years now to replace the 3,000 existing green trash cans currently scattered across the city
- The department in charge, Public Works, put forward a proposal for the new prototypes Wednesday
- The prototypes will cost between $12,000 and $20,000 each
- If the pilot program is a success, the department said mass production of the trash cans would cost between $2,000 to $3,000 each
- The current green trash cans on city sidewalks cost just over $1,200 to make
The city of San Francisco is looking to roll out a series of new trash cans that will cost a staggering $20,000 each.
Officials are currently trying to get 15 of the expensive trash cans made so they can test them out on the streets of San Francisco as part of a pilot program.
Officials have been planning for three years now to replace the 3,000 existing green trash cans currently scattered across the city.
San Francisco Public Works, which is the department in charge of replacing the trash cans, put forward a proposal for the new prototypes on Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The prototypes will cost between $12,000 and $20,000 each.
The city of San Francisco is looking to roll out a series of new trash cans that will cost a staggering $20,000 each as part of a pilot program. One of the new designs is pictured above
If the pilot program is a success, the department said mass production of the trash cans would cost between $2,000 to $3,000 each.
The current green trash cans on city sidewalks cost just over $1,200 to make.
Public Works is asking for between $537,000 to $840,000 for the pilot project.
The proposal to create the prototypes and run the pilot program will be voted on next week by a supervisors’ committee.
One supervisor, Matt Haney, has already slammed the high price tag.
‘$20,000 a can is ridiculous,’ he said.
Haney said he will meet with Public Works about reducing the cost and plans to send the proposal back if he isn’t satisfied.
He argued that the city could have used models from other cities instead of designing its own.
Public Works acting Director Alaric Degrafinried acknowledged on Wednesday that it was ‘a lot’ of money.
He said the cost was driven up because the city worked with a locally-based designer – Advanced Prototype Engineering – on a custom prototype.
Officials have been planning for three years now to replace the 3,000 existing green trash cans currently scattered across the city
San Francisco Public Works, which is the department in charge of replacing the trash cans, put forward a proposal for the new prototypes on Wednesday. One of the new designs is pictured
The prototypes will cost between $12,000 and $20,000 each. If the pilot program is a success, the department said mass production of the trash cans would cost between $2,000 to $3,000 each
The department last year narrowed down the new trash can concepts to three designs.
At the time, Degrafinried noted that the cans were durable and hard to tamper with.
Officials had previously complained that the existing green trash cans had become easy targets for scavengers who rummage through them and leave a mess.
If the new prototypes are approved next week, the city will install 15 prototype cans -five of each design – on sidewalks.
The city is aiming to run the pilot program between November this year to January 2021.
The outrage reaction to the program was swift with many on Twitter saying the city should be spending on the money on cracking down on violent crime and supporting the homeless.
San Francisco has made national headlines in recent weeks over viral videos of people shoplifting from major department stores.
Shoplifting cases have become common in the city after charges of property theft less than $950 in value was downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor in 2014.
It means store staff and security do not pursue or stop thieves who have taken anything worth less than $1,000.
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