16th Street BART station gets new high-tech trashcans

Crusty, urine-soaked and the bane of many commuters’ existence, the plazas at the 16^th Street BART station could obviously use some help in the aesthetics department. The transit agency hopes to get a leg up on the trash at least with new ‘smart’ garbage cans placed around the station.

BART is testing out BigBelly trash receptacles which feature solar powered compactors and issue an alert when they get full. BART spokesman James Allison wrote in an email to Capp Street Crap that it’s all part of a pilot study to “encourage recycling at our stations by making it easier for customers to recycle, to better streamline the recycling process and to make our receptacles more pleasing to the eye.”

The agency is testing out the same trashcans at the Fruitvale and Concord stations, and plans to try out two other types of receptacles at other stations as part of the study. At some point all of the old trashcans at the 16^th Street station will be removed.

BigBelly trashcans have been installed in a number of other cities including Pittsburgh, New York City, Anaheim and Philadelphia, with mixed results. The technology is hardly cheap. BART paid nearly $5,000 for each of the six combination recycling/trash receptacles installed around the 16^th Street station.

Allison said BART will assess the pros and cons of the BigBelly and other trashcans, decide on a type and hopefully install them at more stations as money becomes available.