It Was Pretty Amazing To See New York City's Latest Invention, The Trash Can, Up Close In Person Last Week And I'll Never Forget It
Last week I was in NYC looking at some commercial real estate, and recording some podcasts (shout out Billy and Audiocraic). That night, I took myself down to Greenwich Village for dinner at Bar Pitti and was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this contraption.
A cylindrical or column shaped plastic container, on wheels, that was holding garbage inside of it.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Sure, like the rest of the world I'd seen the news reports a week prior - and read Kate's blog - but I felt like this was one of those instances where you read about flying cars actually being a thing, but you don't actually see one in person for years.
But there it was right in front of me.
How dumb could I have been to think that New York, New York, Big City of Dreams, would lag or waste any time whatsoever in rolling out their latest discovery? Something they ̶s̶e̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶e̶ invested $4 Million dollars on.
Unusual Whales - New York City’s long-stalled plans to test containerized trash collection are gaining momentum. The city has commissioned a multimillion-dollar study and two of its largest property owners have launched pilot programs for garbage bins.
Earlier this week, the Department of Sanitation and the city’s Economic Development Corporation awarded a $4 million contract to McKinsey & Company to examine the implementation of a citywide container bin pilot program. Streetsblog first reported the deal.
Over a 20-week period, McKinsey will study cities like Paris and Amsterdam that use containers and identify which types of bins would work best for New York City. This contract is a relatively small project for the consulting giant, which last year paid nearly $600 million to settle allegations related to its role in advising opioid manufacturers.
Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, head of the council's sanitation committee, questioned the need for a new study by McKinsey, given that the city has been examining container bins for decades.
“There was a body of work done… [with] a lot of these ideas that is sitting there and could easily be looked at again,” Nurse said. “Hiring McKinsey seems a little unnecessary at best. The city should be developing this kind of expertise in-house, at city agencies.”
McKinsey won’t have to look far to see how trash container bins are being utilized. The city has already launched a $1.3 million pilot program placing bins in five neighborhoods, including outside an NYU dormitory.
We are living in a real life Saturday Night Live skit at this point.
This entire thing is too off the fucking walls to believe. Until you remind yourself that this is 2024, up is down, down is up, 2+2=11, and we are living in a simulation.
The fact that New York City, self-proclaimed "greatest city in the entire world", is just having it occur to them, that hey, maybe if we actually put our trash in garbage containers it might do something about the fucking awful stench that permeates they entire city, making it reak like a dump? (Especially in the summer) Or, maybe it will help with the rat problem?
It was laugh out fucking loud funny watching Mayor Eric Adams strut his ass to the microphone towing a garbage bin (to a box somebody outlined with gaff tape because this is a big time Broadway production), and toss a bag of trash in it before kicking off his press conference.
What planet is this?
For those of you who think there's just no possible way New York City legit just found out about trash cans in 2024, or those who haven't visited there before, I assure you, this is very real.
As White Sox Dave has been railing on them for years, these savages legit just toss trash out on the sidewalks and wait for the nightly pick ups. There are no alleys anywhere in the city, thus, zero dumpsters.
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And of course McKinsey was there, waiting in the wings, to happily conduct this "research" for the city. For a measly $4 Million bucks. More tax dollars going to good use. Love to see it.
If you want to know about these guys, a fantastic read is "When McKinsey Comes To Town". The gist of it is that McKinsey is one of the foremost global management consulting firms that provides consulting, advice and services to businesses, governments, and huge corporations around the world. Like Boeing. The company's advice often boils down to major cost-cutting, including layoffs and maintenance reductions, to drive up short-term profits, boosting a company’s stock price and the wealth of its executives who hire it, at the expense of workers and safety measures. (Boeing). The book does a great job detailing it all, but some of their greatest hits include helping insurance companies avoid having to pay out settlements to families and victims of all sorts of cases through insane minutia and reworking contracts with novels of fine print. As well as working with U.S. government contacts to let Wall Street firms evade scrutiny, and helping the opioid makers, hostile autocratic governments around the globe, and the cigarette companies.
So rest assured New York City is in good hands!