Trump tariffs threaten rollout of NYC’s $1,000 trash can of tomorrow

New York City’s futuristic fleet of new litter baskets could be a casualty of President Donald Trump's planned tariffs on Canadian imports.

For decades, the sanitation department relied on the ubiquitous green metal baskets made by New York state prisoners as street receptacles. The new bins, which officials touted as less attractive to rats and easier for sanitation workers to lift and dump into garbage trucks, began appearing on city streets in 2023.

But the bins are manufactured in Quebec for about $1,000 a pop. That price could rise if Trump follows through with his threat to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports as soon as Saturday.

“New Yorkers and our sanitation workers love them, as they are rat-resistant, leakproof, harder to misuse with household trash, and both easier and safer for sanitation workers to empty,” sanitation spokesperson Joshua Goodman said. “At this point, any tariff or associated change in the delivery schedule remains a hypothetical, but we are watching the situation closely.”

The department is in the process of replacing around 23,000 metal baskets with the new models. About 5,000 of the “trash cans of tomorrow” are already deployed. Any delay in the replacement of the metal cans could mean more meals for rats.

“The problem with the wire mesh basket is it lets rats in and lets trash juice out,” Goodman said.

The city selected the manufacturer of the new cans after a design competition in 2019. They feature two main components: a durable metal and concrete shell with a lightweight plastic basket inside.

The new baskets also have a bar across the top to prevent people from illegally tossing large loads of commercial trash.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced the tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada on Friday, saying the three countries had “all enabled illegal drugs to pour into America.”

“The amount of fentanyl that has been seized at the southern border in the last few years alone has the potential to kill tens of millions of Americans,” she said. “And so the president is intent on doing this.”