'Litter-Bin Lotto' Might Keep Cans From Curb

The trashcans that will work with the city of Cape Girardeau's new automated trash system were delivered to my street late Friday afternoon.

These new city-provided cans seem to be well made and roll very easily, or at least they do when they're empty. It remains to be seen once they are full, but the wheels look sturdy so I don't foresee any problems. The real unknown is how well the lid holds up. The lid is the Achilles heel of most trashcans.

Besides the lid and the lengthy list of dos and don'ts that came with the shiny-new trash bins which many people will probably neither read nor follow, the only other potential problem that I believe might be of concern is that the cans are pretty big.

Actually, they're really big when compared to an average-sized trashcan. They dwarf the ones I own. The green recycling bins are especially huge.

This might be an issue for some people. If your garage is lined with tools, squeezing in the bulky new bins might not be so easy. And if residents have to pick between sheltering their car or a city-owned trash can, guess which one will be left outside?

Because they're so big, finding a space to store them even outside might not be easy either. For instance, I may have to get rid of one or two of my own collection of exterior waste receptacles. But that's OK. I've got some made by Rubbermaid that are on their last legs with splits in the sides and holes in their bottoms. I could certainly pitch them.

But while I will make room by my garage, I think a lot of people won't.

Instead their cans will become perpetual mini-Dumpsters left out by the street in front of their dwellings.

Won't that be attractive?

I know the city has gone to great pains to put in this system and has some strong fiscal reasons for doing so, but we should recognize the simple fact that a lot of people are lazy.

Even though the new cans have great big wheels, it will still be a chore for some to push them all the way from the back of their house to the curb on a weekly basis. It will just be easier for them to leave their mini-Dumpsters out by the curb and take their trash and recycling to them.

For proof of the likelihood of this scenario, consider that a number of our citizens tend to leave their trashcans by the curb for days on end with our current system.

If we want to curb Trashcan Apathy Syndrome, we have two viable options.

We could penalize users for leaving their cans by the street and ticket those residents. Of course, that will make a lot of citizen's just "adore" the new trash system. And really, don't the officers of the Cape P.D. have more important things to do than handing out $10 tickets to a bunch of slackers?

Or instead the city could provide an incentive to citizens to move their cans from the curb after they've been emptied. They could hold a weekly or even a daily litter-bin lottery. It would be easy to do. Each of the new trashcans has a unique serial number painted on it in 2-inch high letters and the Public Works Department knows exactly which city addresses have which trashcans.

Public Works could hold regular random drawings using these serial numbers. Then one of their employees could check the residence whose can number was selected and if the citizens who lived there had removed their trash bin from the curb within a day after being emptied, they would win a prize.

Perhaps, the city could give away one month of free trash service or get local businesses to donate some prizes. Maybe the Southeast Missourian could chip in a subscription or two.

I think that a subscription to the newspaper would be a great prize. Not only does every issue contain a lot of pertinent local information, after residents finished reading them they could use the papers to help fill those especially huge recycling bins.