6 ms·

Wait what are you on about? Are you serious that you just stick bin bags on the street full? Where are the bins? What? I'm not from NYC or even the US, why wou

Wait what are you on about? Are you serious that you just stick bin bags on the street full? Where are the bins? What? I'm not from NYC or even the US, why wouldn't you just use bins that the bags go in? I don't understand, please help me understand this. I'm thoroughly confused.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
bombcar 4y ago
Trash in NY is literally piled up for collection. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=new+york+trash https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=new+york+trash Most cities in the USA have either individual trash cans (suburbs/low density, once a week): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UluH0QmnwfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UluH0QmnwfM (ONE HOUR???) or dumpsters/dedicated crushers (high density, can be once a day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTrUs6TeNc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTrUs6TeNc
mnutt 4y ago
The sidewalks aren’t wide enough for the kinds of bins needed for the amount of trash generated (NYC is dense) and nobody wants to give up free parking spaces to put the bins in the street as of yet.
- bmicraft 4y ago
  Many cities have a regular bin-sized contraption where you throw you stuff in and it gets compacted into a big underground container that is part of the sidewalk. They then either get lifted and emptied of sucked empty by a garbage truck. The sidewalks are plenty wide for that, nyc doesn't even come close to how narrow some european cities without such problems are.
  - TheCapeGreek 4y ago
    I've heard about this in the Netherlands I think, but don' think it's very common.
  - mnutt 4y ago
    Are you referring to some sort of underground hatch that doesn’t take up any space on the sidewalk at all? That’d be very cool, just probably difficult to retrofit the whole city with.
    - nibbleshifter 4y ago
      The ones I've seen in Barcelona take up a fairly small amount of space. They do occupy some, but not much. Seems to work really well tbh.
    - em500 4y ago
      They do take up some space on the sidewalk, but less than a non-underground version. Here's what they look like: https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-of-Underground-Garbage-Bins https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-...
- asdff 4y ago
  This is actually just a building code issue. In other cities, ordinances mandate trash rooms or trash chutes for mulitfamily buildings to avoid these issues. One could argue "but nyc grew before sane building codes," but so did boston, or chicago, and plenty of other denser cities that don't have this issue because they have sensible ordinances in place regarding waste management. I'm willing to bet landlords don't want to make these investments to their properties in nyc, and have more of a voice in local government than their tenants, who are probably mostly indifferent about the issue at this point anyhow.
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    I love Boston and will vouch for the general idea that MA is better than NY, but I’m pretty sure Boston just gets by using the advantage of a smaller population and less density in this case. Although maybe the rats have as much trouble navigating as every other visitor…
  - mnutt 4y ago
    Buildings have trash chutes and rooms for collecting trash; the trash is held there and put out on the street before midnight and picked up the following morning 3x per week. They get fined for leaving trash out any other time. The issue is the collection point, not the storage prior.
    - asdff 4y ago
      Then it seems like an even easier problem for nyc to fix overnight.
NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
You live in an apartment building that's 47 stories tall and has 350 units. Do you expect all of the residents individually to take bins out to the front of the building?
- jacobsenscott 4y ago
  You would expect the apt building provides dumpsters
- notacop31337 4y ago
  I understand what you're saying but NYC isn't exactly the only city in the world with large apartment buildings.
- bmicraft 4y ago
  Usually such buildings would have a garbage room with big bins that get emptied regularly - at least in sane cities.
- asdff 4y ago
  I've lived in a big apartment complex before. The invention that solves this problem is called a chute and a dumpster.
  - ch4s3 4y ago
    Buildings here have chutes and compactors. There aren't any alleys in Manhattan and the sidewalks are mostly quite narrow. The solution would be to eliminate some parking to hold bins that can be emptied by trucks but it hasn't been politically feasible.
    - asdff 4y ago
      If you have chutes and trash rooms already, then there's no point to bringing the stuff out to the street for holding. In my building the trash would be taken from the trash room directly to the truck. The chute would just drop into a dumpster that workers would wheel out and the truck would flip it into the bed. Seems like it takes less labor than having workers bring bags to the road and then have the trash workers spend time putting the bags in the truck by hand versus with a hydraulic arm.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

bombcar 4y ago

Trash in NY is literally piled up for collection. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=new+york+trash https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=new+york+trash Most cities in the USA have either individual trash cans (suburbs/low density, once a week): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UluH0QmnwfM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UluH0QmnwfM (ONE HOUR???) or dumpsters/dedicated crushers (high density, can be once a day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTrUs6TeNc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTrUs6TeNc

mnutt 4y ago

The sidewalks aren’t wide enough for the kinds of bins needed for the amount of trash generated (NYC is dense) and nobody wants to give up free parking spaces to put the bins in the street as of yet.

bmicraft 4y ago
Many cities have a regular bin-sized contraption where you throw you stuff in and it gets compacted into a big underground container that is part of the sidewalk. They then either get lifted and emptied of sucked empty by a garbage truck. The sidewalks are plenty wide for that, nyc doesn't even come close to how narrow some european cities without such problems are.
- TheCapeGreek 4y ago
  I've heard about this in the Netherlands I think, but don' think it's very common.
- mnutt 4y ago
  Are you referring to some sort of underground hatch that doesn’t take up any space on the sidewalk at all? That’d be very cool, just probably difficult to retrofit the whole city with.
  - nibbleshifter 4y ago
    The ones I've seen in Barcelona take up a fairly small amount of space. They do occupy some, but not much. Seems to work really well tbh.
  - em500 4y ago
    They do take up some space on the sidewalk, but less than a non-underground version. Here's what they look like: https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-of-Underground-Garbage-Bins https://www.core77.com/posts/102208/Amsterdams-Smart-System-...
asdff 4y ago
This is actually just a building code issue. In other cities, ordinances mandate trash rooms or trash chutes for mulitfamily buildings to avoid these issues. One could argue "but nyc grew before sane building codes," but so did boston, or chicago, and plenty of other denser cities that don't have this issue because they have sensible ordinances in place regarding waste management. I'm willing to bet landlords don't want to make these investments to their properties in nyc, and have more of a voice in local government than their tenants, who are probably mostly indifferent about the issue at this point anyhow.
- bee_rider 4y ago
  I love Boston and will vouch for the general idea that MA is better than NY, but I’m pretty sure Boston just gets by using the advantage of a smaller population and less density in this case. Although maybe the rats have as much trouble navigating as every other visitor…
- mnutt 4y ago
  Buildings have trash chutes and rooms for collecting trash; the trash is held there and put out on the street before midnight and picked up the following morning 3x per week. They get fined for leaving trash out any other time. The issue is the collection point, not the storage prior.
  - asdff 4y ago
    Then it seems like an even easier problem for nyc to fix overnight.

NovemberWhiskey 4y ago

You live in an apartment building that's 47 stories tall and has 350 units. Do you expect all of the residents individually to take bins out to the front of the building?

jacobsenscott 4y ago
You would expect the apt building provides dumpsters
notacop31337 4y ago
I understand what you're saying but NYC isn't exactly the only city in the world with large apartment buildings.
bmicraft 4y ago
Usually such buildings would have a garbage room with big bins that get emptied regularly - at least in sane cities.
asdff 4y ago
I've lived in a big apartment complex before. The invention that solves this problem is called a chute and a dumpster.
- ch4s3 4y ago
  Buildings here have chutes and compactors. There aren't any alleys in Manhattan and the sidewalks are mostly quite narrow. The solution would be to eliminate some parking to hold bins that can be emptied by trucks but it hasn't been politically feasible.
  - asdff 4y ago
    If you have chutes and trash rooms already, then there's no point to bringing the stuff out to the street for holding. In my building the trash would be taken from the trash room directly to the truck. The chute would just drop into a dumpster that workers would wheel out and the truck would flip it into the bed. Seems like it takes less labor than having workers bring bags to the road and then have the trash workers spend time putting the bags in the truck by hand versus with a hydraulic arm.