Rubbish! San Francisco’s $20,000 designer trash can struggles to contain trash

In 2018, San Francisco set out to build a better bin. The prototypes are finally ready for action - so we gave them a try

San Francisco may struggle with an intractable housing crisis, gaping income inequality and a deserted downtown - but one thing it will not tolerate is second-rate trash cans.

In 2018, the city's department of public works began the process of replacing the city's more than 3,000 existing public trash cans. Not content with the models already on the market, San Francisco launched what is now a three-and-half-year (and counting), $550,000 project to design bespoke bins for its streets.