The Facts

San Francisco rolled out a small pilot to tackle a very specific North Beach problem: pizza boxes that don’t fit in standard street bins. On Jan. 23, 2026, Recology and the Department of Public Works installed two “pizza drop off” receptacles at the edge of Washington Square Park, at Stockton Street and Union/Filbert. Supervisor Danny Sauter's office was made aware of the overflowing trash problem and immediately got to work on a solution.

The bins have side slots sized for boxes and feature artwork by muralist Sirron Norris. Recology designed the bins and paid to fabricate them; the City is covering installation and routine pickup.

The Context

Overflowing trash cans clogged with pizza boxes have contributed to litter in North Beach. "[The] can starts to overflow, and then we end up with trash around it and that spreads," DPW Director Carla Short told KQED.

Public Works says it maintains more than 2,800 public trash cans citywide, emptied at least daily. This new trash can design was led by Recology, a refreshing contrast to SF’s long, expensive trash-can redesign saga, where prototypes alone reportedly ran about ~$12,000 each.

The GrowSF Take

This is the kind of practical improvement San Franciscans notice, and benefit from, immediately. Not everything in City Hall needs to take years and involve a dozen studies. Sometimes a simple problem has a simple solution, and we just needed someone to take action. Thanks, Supervisor Sauter!