May 12th, 2005

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Vancouver
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When Cities Do Things Right: Recycling Rack

I really like it when a city responds to its citizens, instead of forcing its citizens to change. One great example is that, for years, people were playing inline hockey on a public parking lot near English Bay. They’d set up a couple of milk crates as ‘goals’, and skate around. Eventually the city clued in that there was a demand for this, so they set up some concrete barricades and fencing as boards, and permanently fixed a couple of milk crates in appropriate locations. Voila–instant inline hockey rink. Cheap, cheerful and what the public wanted. Whenever I walk by, that space is in use. [more]

Another is when the city pays attention to desire lines–the paths people make when they cut across an area instead of following the prescribed walkway. You see them all the time at universities. Yet another is this city of Victoria effort, which plasters tourist maps on the sides of otherwise unused switch boxes.

I’m digging this new recycyling rack. The city’s recognized that the impoverished are going to dig through garbage cans to look for returnable cans and bottles. They’ve built a little rack (apologies for the crappy phone camera photo) that sits around the can that enables an exchange between the drinker and the needy:

  • The can or bottle gets recycled, instead of thrown away.
  • I don’t know if this is an issue, but the can collector retains a little dignity by not having to root through the trash.
  • The city stays cleaner, because rooting through the trash inevitably leaves some on the pavement.

I’ve never seen a can in the rack. I don’t know if that means that it isn’t used, or it’s extremely well-used. It’s in a very busy location (it’s the only one I’ve seen–probably a pilot project), so I’m guessing the latter.

Of course, the longterm solution would be creating a society where people didn’t feel they had to root through the trash for cans and bottles, but that’s another story.

Comments: 8 Responses so far

Lisa
May 12th, 2005
10:03 am

Very cool. I try to leave my cans teetering on the top of the bin, which can be tricky for two reasons. I think people around me think I’m too lazy to actually put the can in the bin. And, I sometimes forget where I am and teeter cans in places there are no binners.

well done, vancouver.

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double-plus-ungood
May 12th, 2005
10:23 am

Nice. I haven’t seen these, but a great idea. Downside is that the crows have been trained to follow the guys who look for recyclables (I like the term “gleaner”, it give a bit of dignity to the role), as they often leave the tops of the garbage cans off. The crows then pull out all the garbage looking for food.

Actually, not much of a downside after all.

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Anonymous
May 12th, 2005
2:08 pm

I believe SFU planners/architects decided not to locate/pave sidewalks when building the campus until after the ‘desired lines’ started to form.

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richard
May 13th, 2005
8:45 am

I’ve always put my bottles beside the public garbage cans, even before the recycling racks appeared on a handful of the new cans. I’ve seen people put recyclables into the rack… but they’re gone in a couple minutes.

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Shenzhen expat
May 18th, 2005
2:06 am

Same problem in China. Rummagers just pull out the whole can and dump the contents on teh ground to look for recyclables.

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Ben
May 19th, 2005
5:03 pm

I like the idea of using unused switching boxes by putting up tourist maps. I think if something is useful, people will not mess with it, in general. A tourist map on a switching box will probably be vandalized less than one that is like a blank canvas. Maybe we should look at graf as an opportunity space to provide something useful in a public space.

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Rob
May 19th, 2005
5:44 pm

I agree that the recycling rack is good -however I am a bit skeptical as to its origin. The recyling rack is only on a select few garbage cans in Vancouver - most don’t have a rack. They also have a slanted and textured top that make it impossible to put cans on and a small hole that makes it hard for “binners” to get inside. There is another new garbage can design in Vancouver that also features a sloped top, small access hole, and no recycling rack. Sadly - my gut feeling is that these cans were originally designed to discourage binning and the rack has placed on some as an after thought or perhaps a response to public pressure.

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Aaron Westre
May 20th, 2005
7:40 am

San Francisco has garbage cans downtown that have a basket on top, for this same purpose. They get used a lot.

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