Over the last year, I’ve taken nearly a thousand photos of waste receptacles… yeah.  I never liked photography at all until I started doing this.  It’s interesting how many dirty and suspicious looks I get for sitting on the ground taking pictures of cans.  I guess I could be a terrorist or something…right?  I admit, I like the confrontations I’ve had while doing this as I get to talk to people about their perceptions of waste and also what they think of the can I’m checking out.

I will say that the majority of cans I’ve shot thus far have been horrible.  I understand somewhat that most trash can designers aren’t thinking about successful compliance and appeal, though.  Let’s start off this series on a positive note with this one:

I saw this at a park overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, and I found it extremely impressive because most outdoor park containers look like a giant turd.  They stepped it up here and made a flashy sign to make sure you understand just what goes in here.
Of course, the acceptable items’ names go around the top as well, in case you didn’t see the giant sign going around the belly of the can with perfect language to avoid any confusion.  If you throw trash in this can, you are indeed a total jerk.  Or you’re lazy and didn’t feel like walking twenty feet to the general waste can.  Well, more power to you.

What’s wrong with the can?  Maybe some Spanish on there would be cool.  Also, a lid to cover the opening would be a good design in this case, since it’s outdoors and fills up with a ton of water, like so:

Overall, I still give this can a near-perfect score.  I’ve never seen a better outdoor recycling container.  Have you?  Send me photos.

Till next week!