I’ve only visited New York a handful of times, and each time, I found it to be quite dirty. I acknowledge that the city has a large number of pedestrians walking in narrow alleys and streets, which makes cleaning challenging. However, the dirtiness is definitely noticeable. For some reason, city officials felt that the best way to combat the lack of cleanliness was to remove all the public trash cans on sidewalks and other high-traffic areas. You’ll never guess what citizens did in protest of this ludicrous choice.
The above video depicts a typical New York City street, crowded with people trying to cross and cabs manoeuvring to avoid collisions. Notably, there are no visible trash cans in the scene. The camera then pans to a USPS postal box, which is filled with various types of trash, highlighting the absence of any trash cans in the area.
It’s unclear exactly why this decision was made, but it’s likely to have been done to encourage people to hold onto their waste for safe disposal. Unfortunately, New York City might not have been the best place to test this theory, especially since people will only walk so far with their trash before deciding to dispose of it just about anywhere. Just think of all the gum wrappers and soda cans just being strewn about because someone couldn’t find a trash can.
It’s unfortunate, but it’s true. Commenters on the video were quick to highlight this point, with one person saying, “removing trash cans in NYC of all places is ludicrous 😭.” Others were a little less sympathetic, criticizing the city for making this choice in the first place, “Honestly what did they expect?”
It is hoped that more trash cans will be distributed throughout the city to prevent significant issues caused by litter on the streets. If this does not happen, I can only imagine how severe the rat problem could become in just a few months as a result of the trash accumulation.
