After a three-month pilot of two options, the NYC Department of Sanitation has selected the new garbage can design that will handle our endless supply of Starbucks cups and broken umbrellas: A metal stand and plastic basket concept that is half the weight of the current wire trash can.
The Sanitation Department launched a public design contest—BetterBin—in 2018 to refresh the city's fleet of 23,000+ litter baskets, explaining, "The most widespread design—the green, wire-mesh basket—is affordable, easy to service and has remained largely unchanged since the 1930s. While iconic to the streets of New York, the wire basket is in need of a redesign to better address the current and future waste needs of the City. The BetterBin competition seeks entries to design a new litter basket that can improve the quality of life for New Yorkers and the Sanitation Workers who service them while keeping New York City healthy, safe and clean."
Being able to pick up the basket easily, especially during or after the rain, was very important, and the winning design from Group Project, made up of Colin P. Kelly, Brit Kleinman, Brandon Massey and Chris Glaister, emphasizes modularity. Kelly told Gothamist earlier this year, "We designed this to be an everlasting piece of the infrastructure in the city and I want New Yorkers to recognize it and love it for many years to come."
The design was apparently a hit with sanitation workers and New Yorkers who saw the baskets at pilot locations across the city, with the Sanitation Department highlighting its lighter weight, "sleek esthetic, bold recycling messaging, and significant ergonomic improvements," and "eight comfortable grips for proper lifting compared to only two on the current basket." A nine-member jury, the Sanitation Commissioner, President of Teamsters Local 831, and industrial design specialists, selected the winner.
It's not clear how much the winning bins will ultimately cost, but the terms of the contest put a maximum cost of $175 per can when fabricated in bulk, and each finalist firm received $40,000 to create the prototype. (We asked the Sanitation Department for more details on the cost of the new trash bins and will update when we hear back.)
The winning design prototypes will replace wire baskets on Fifth Avenue between 88th and 92nd Streets in Manhattan. Then Group Project and the Department of Sanitation will work on design tweaks to eventually bring the can to mass production.
