If there are no trash cans in subway stations, people won’t litter there — that’s the MTA’s strange logic, anyway. The transit authority announced it will expand a pilot program that saw garbage receptacles removed from 10 stations to include 29 stops along the J and M lines. The J will soon be completely can-less, with trash taken out at every single stop, and the M will have no bins between Essex Street and Middle Village.
The MTA says it’s expanding the program because it worked the first time, with surveys finding a 10% decrease of instances in which the pilot stations had heavy litter compared to before the cans were removed. That seems crazy to me, but what do I know. One MTA board member has a more specific critique. Garbage that would otherwise be tossed into cans doesn’t “disappear into the ether,” he said at a committee meeting recently. “If we’re not collecting it, it’s either being dumped in the street or someone else is collecting it.”
(Photo: The All Nite Images)
