NYC Cleans Up Subways by...Removing Trash Cans?

Matt Flegenheimer reports on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) counter-intuitive plan to clean up its subway stations by removing trash receptacles. "Officials have described the logic of the program simply: If there is
nowhere to discard trash, riders will take it with them - often outside
of a station."

"Some riders, though, have expressed reservations about the plan," notes Flegenheimer. "Less
trash, they argue, does not imply a more hygienic subway experience."

"'I don't know what to do with this,' Christopher DiScipio, 22, said on
Thursday clutching a nearly-finished apple at the Eighth Street station."

"Nearby, in a narrow alcove between a pay phone kiosk and a vertical
beam, riders appeared to have fashioned a rogue receptacle. Detritus
piled about three feet high - a mélange of crushed energy drink cans;
bottles of water and, in at least one case, vodka; mounds of wrappers
and paper cups; and what appeared to have once been a white T-shirt."