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New CTA Trash Receptacles

June 17th, 2005 · 13 Comments

garbage.jpg
Clark/Lake Blue Line Platform, The Loop, Chicago

I hate these new garbage “cans.” Trash Receptacles , I guess. It wasn’t so bad when they were using black trash bags, but now that they’re using clear.. it’s just like the garbage might as well be just laying there. I guess there’s something psych that’s comforting to have the garbage NOT VISABLE even if it’s in the same place.

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13 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Robin // Jun 17, 2005 at 8:47 am

    Have to agree with you. I’d love to know CTA’s logic for them.

  • 2 tien // Jun 17, 2005 at 9:24 am

    logic? um…bombs? hello?

  • 3 Benjy // Jun 17, 2005 at 10:05 am

    I could see them as easier to empty as a reason…

    But couldn’t they wrap them in some sort of frosted clear plastic tube, that open and close with velcro or magnets? Then the trash would look like abstract art…

  • 4 Benjy // Jun 17, 2005 at 10:08 am

    Or it is some sort of “look, we’re so poor we can’t afford garbage cans” thing? Will CTA signage soon be constructed from cardboard boxes?

  • 5 rachelle // Jun 17, 2005 at 10:14 am

    at first i didnt like the new bag-hanging setup at all.. but then realized that maybe it does make it faster to empty.. but then they switched from black bags to clear bags and now I HATE IT.

    tien, i think you could still hide a bomb in a half-full bag of garbage.

  • 6 Mike W. // Jun 17, 2005 at 10:36 am

    Also have to agree. A bit flimsy looking as well.

    But a chance turn to the Book of Joe blog pointed me to a slightly more attractive upgrade - the “StandBag”

    http://www.bookofjoe.com/2005/06/standbag_put_th.html

  • 7 tien // Jun 17, 2005 at 12:24 pm

    also, they can see when the bag needs to be changed.

    i think the clear bag makes it much harder to hid a bomb than say, a garbage can.

  • 8 Neil // Jun 18, 2005 at 9:04 am

    Knowing Chicago’s famed reputation for architecture, maybe the CTA is going for some Bauhaus-type effect of showing form/function. Probably not.

  • 9 Anon, please // Jun 18, 2005 at 4:01 pm

    The rationale? The feds require it for bomb detection purposes. DC got rid of all of their trash cans completely, and now the system looks like a pit. This is better.

  • 10 ChrisM // Jun 20, 2005 at 12:55 pm

    Yes it’s to deter bombs, which is a valid reason I guess. Oh if Osama didnt cause us so many headaches large and small long after the dust cleared down at what we now call Ground Zero.

    On a lighter note Rachelle did I ever tell you of my buddy back in ‘92 he got ‘mugged’ in his sleep on a CTA train? My buddy was out living it up while out there on a business trip, and being a native Staten Islander originally transiting around via the CTA suited him fine. I few too many I guess and he eventually woke up with his pant leg slit and his wallet gone. That’s the way he tells it at least.

  • 11 rachelle // Jun 20, 2005 at 1:13 pm

    the thing is.. if they did this for bomb/terrorist reasons then why not do ALL of the trash containers INCLUDING recycling? Right across the platform from these are recycling containters that are closed up and use blue bags. If you can’t put your bomb in the trash now, put it in the recycle!

    getting mugged is “on a lighter note” ? hah

  • 12 ChrisM // Jun 22, 2005 at 10:08 am

    Haha to you Rachelle, I guess that was a hell of a way for me to put it!

    Hey you know what? Part of that now 86’s Jets Staduim deal was dough to rehabilitate as some sort of park/walkway perhaps shops and restaurants The High Line. That plan is by the boards for now. Bummer :-(

  • 13 Elaine // Aug 7, 2005 at 10:05 pm

    They have this style of garbage receptacle in Paris, but actually I haven’t yet seen them here in Chicago.

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