Litter Baskets, Better Bins, and Urban Behavior: How Small Infrastructure Changes Can Lead to Big Cleanups
By Angus Jackson
It is always tempting to believe that nothing but grand policy shifts or heavy fines will matter to cleanliness in the streets. But in NYC, modest infrastructural adjustments—more judicious siting of the litter baskets, re-design of public garbage receptacles—are already demonstrating the power of observable improvement to change people's behavior and diminish the trash in significant fashion.
The Sanitation Department regulates more than 23,000 trash receptacles throughout the city. These baskets contain roughly 3,000 that are made to be recyclable; autumn 2023 marked the start of the implementation of "Better Bins" that are leakproof, ratproof, and safer both for walkers and sanitation workers.
The new Better Bins are replacing worn-out wire-mesh baskets that tend to spill over or spread trash everywhere. This design improvement caters to both looks and lifespan.
The frequency of collection of the litter baskets and the location are significant. Some baskets in the commercial wards are removed as often as five times during the day, whereas mixed-residential/commercial wards are removed a couple of times weekly.
When baskets overflow or are inadequately sited, spillage becomes litter, diminishing area cleanliness perception as well as encouraging habits of littering. When baskets are serviced frequently, the risk of spills decreases, decreasing the desire to litter.
Legal responsibility goes hand-in-hand with physical baskets. Property owners must, as per DSNY's Litter Baskets policy, keep the public areas around their property — the sidewalks, gutters, tree pits, alleyways, and yards — clear of trash. Deposit of household or commercial refuse in the public dust bins, or inappropriate use of them, can result in fines.
These rules support infrastructure by giving legal teeth to cleanliness. Infrastructure development intersects with containerization policy as well. The more that buildings use secure bins, the fewer bags there are on the sidewalk, thus reducing spillage risk into baskets. The use of trash bags on the sidewalk makes the use of baskets inconvenient: people may be inclined to put trash in baskets to save carrying bags to bins, but should baskets be exploited or overused, the trash still spreads. Better Bins balances this out as being less prone to misuse. Collectively, the litter infrastructure design decreases the quantity of litter as well as behavioral signals that cause additional litter. Neater public streets give people the impulse to be neater about their environment as well: if streets appear to be tidy, individuals are less inclined to throw trash on the ground. Little things matter a lot: the use of new baskets, the added frequency of service, and the enforcement of proper use all produce quantifiable positives in urban cleanliness.
Sources Used:
Litter Basket | NYC Street Design Manual (Better Bins, baskets design, servicing frequency) (https://www.nycstreetdesign.info/furniture/litter-basket)
DSNY Litter Baskets policy: who is responsible for keeping public areas clean and fines for misuse (https://www.nyc.gov/site/dsny/what-we-do/cleaning/litter-baskets.page)