San Francisco's North Beach installs pizza box trash cans to tackle growing litter problem
San Francisco's North Beach is home to wonderful Italian food and pastries. It attracts locals and tourists to the area to check out world-famous pizza, but that has caused somewhat of a problem.
It is common in North Beach to see people walking around with pizza boxes to enjoy a slice of pie. It's great for the local economy, but what happens after the pizza is gone has turned into a problem.
North Beach resident Gisele Reiner decided to take action.
"When we walk around the trash can, we see it overflowing with pizza boxes, large and small," Gisele Reiner said. "They're everywhere and my dog steps around and she wants to drag them around. I know the coyotes are dragging them around. So, finally just wrote an email to Supervisor Sauter, and I said our city is so beautiful and Washington Square Park is beautiful. We love pizza but we got to do something to clean up the pizza boxes."
She wrote an email last fall and just three months later, the city came up with a pizza box trash can.
"We know this is not the biggest problem in the world and in the city, but we can do something about this," Supervisor Danny Sauter said.
Supervisor Sauter and other city leaders looked at how other cities like New York were dealing with the problem. The main issue was that you couldn't put a large square box in a round trash can. It led to trash piling up outside the can.
"I think it's important to do the little things," Supervisor Sauter said. "And if we want the residents and voters of San Francisco to believe in us to do the big things, we also have to show that we can do everyday block-by-block work like this. So, it's not the biggest need or challenge in San Francisco but we've got to do these little things to build up trust to go to the bigger things."
The trash bins are getting rave reviews already from some pizza lovers.
"You don't want to litter," said Evan Ewing. "It's just an issue of convenience for a lot of people. I think it's a fantastic idea."
And Reiner is so happy to see a clean Washington Square Park.
"I'm thrilled," she said. "Look how beautiful the park is, too. I hope it stays this way."
The only ones that maybe upset about the idea? Those looking to get a tasty snack during their daily walks.
"My dog is going to be disappointed, though," Reiner said. "She doesn't get to go into the pizza boxes anymore."