S.F. said it would hire a trash can czar to deal with complaints. Nine months later, the position is still open

San Francisco officials announced last summer that they planned to hire a new trash can czar to deal with thousands of complaints annually about overflowing bins and dirty streets. 

The Department of Public Works announced in June it was hiring a new trash can manager who would also ensure the 3,000 garbage cans are properly maintained, analyze trash bin locations and monitor trends from the city’s approximately 1,000 in-can sensors.  

But nine months later, the position remains vacant, officials told the Chronicle. 

The still-vacant position was highlighted in a presentation on trash cans by the Department of Public Works during a hearing Thursday at the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.

DPW Spokesperson Rachel Gordon told the Chronicle that the department has offered someone the trash can manager position, but she did not share more details.

“The trash can manager is in the end stages of the hiring process,” Gordon said in a text message.

The long road to hiring employees in San Francisco has been cause for concern for some years. City officials told the Chronicle in early 2023 that it spends a median 255 days to hire a permanent city worker, a nine-month span that is more than twice as long as in 2015. 

Then-Mayor London Breed’s office told the Chronicle in December 2023 that it now takes a median 197 days to fill a permanent full-time position — a 23% decrease thanks to reforms.

Gordon did not say why it took so long to offer the trash can manager position to a candidate. 

Supervisor Danny Sauter, who represents North Beach and Chinatown, where residents frequently complain about trash cans jammed with garbage, illegal dumping and litter-covered streets, called for Thursday’s hearing. 

Sauter said the long timeline for hiring someone to be trash can manager is “illustrative of overall challenges in hiring for the city, and how slow it goes.”

Sauter also pushed the department Thursday for 1,500 new trash cans, echoing a campaign promise he made last year.

For years, trash cans have been a sore spot for San Franciscans, and, according to a Chronicle analysis, some of the densest areas in the city receive the most complaints about overflowing trash cans.

The analysis found that the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods got the most complaints last year through 311, a service that allows residents to call, text or even post on social media about city issues such as overflowing public trash cans. 

The most complaints came from sensors attached to about a third of all city trash cans. The sensors create 311 complaints when the cans are 80% full, and last year it created 70,000 complaints — far more than humans did in 2024. 

But overflowing cans aren’t the only issue facing DPW as it tries to keep the city’s streets clean. 

The city spent more than half a million dollars on a quest to build three bespoke trash can prototypes. The plan was to test the three cans and then decide on one to replace the aging green bins the city has been using since 1993. 

The city landed on the slim silhouette model, a sleek cylindrical silver can with small openings that DPW hopes will keep scavengers away.

The department estimated in 2022 that 3,000 cans would be rolled out in 2023. But in January last year, that five-year-long endeavor was put on hold due to costs. 

During Thursday’s hearing, DPW said it wants to pay to replace all trash cans with the new slim silhouette designs through a $15 million pot of money in a refuse reserve account.

But Sauter and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood pushed DPW and Recology staffers at the hearing to come up with more creative ways to keep streets cleaner and make sure city residents are using city trash cans responsibly. Mahmood mentioned doing education campaigns to instill good habits in young people, and Sauter asked about using drones to monitor illegal dumping.

All of it, Sauter said, could lead to more efficient waste management. 

“When you are taking almost a year to hire someone and then you have RFPs and biddings that are taking years to submit, that’s how you get into the scenario where we’re waiting five or six years for new trash cans,” Sauter said. “There’s a lot that can be worked on, but there’s a lot here we need to stay engaged on and have a space for that accountability.” 

Several people who spoke at the hearing at City Hall said they want to see more trash cans in their litter-marked neighborhoods, including several people from Chinatown who complained about the illegal dumping of cardboard all over the neighborhood. 

Sauter and Mahmood want DPW and Recology to better coordinate. The trash cans hearing was continued and  DPW and Recology will return in the coming months.

Reach Aldo Toledo: Aldo.Toledo@sfchronicle.com