Are The Respectable Receptacle Lids Returning?

Is there a more handsome, respectable
 public trash receptacle anywhere?

When I first visited Hudson over 12 years ago, one small but important detail about the city that impressed me were the public trash receptacles lining the sidewalks.  They were not ugly, as they often can be.  I felt that the wood slats surrounding the receptacle and the wooden lid with a small hole so that you couldn't actually see the garbage inside was unique and classy.  Also, no plastic bags were inside the receptacle (less waste) or sticking out the edges.  Someone in Hudson, perhaps long ago, had obviously given the city's chosen public trash receptacle some thought with an eye toward aesthetics, which most towns do not.  

My affection for the receptacles changed, however, shortly after I moved to Hudson, when the look of the receptacles took a turn for the worse. (I call them receptacles out of respect, as well as the fact that the actual trash can is inside the receptacle.

At a council meeting in February of 2016, DPW Superintendent Robert Perry announced that the trash receptacles lids were going to be replaced with a "more durable and cleaner looking product."  Wood was out, and black metal was in. Yuk!  More durable? Perhaps.  Cleaner looking?  Not to me, and time would tell if the metal lids would stay cleaner and hold up well.  7 years later, I don't think they have.  (Most, but not all, of the wooden lids were replaced.  A handful still exist on Warren, some side streets, and in the 7th street park.)

Can durability and good looks coexist?

In my eyes, the black metal lids took away some of the charm of the receptacles.  They also seemed to attract spray paint, paint pens, and stickers a whole lot more readily than the old wooden lids.  Or all that stuff just stayed on longer than before.  The metal lids got ugly quickly, and while DPW was likely maintaining the receptacles as best they could, it never seemed adequate enough.  It seemed to me that the metal lids also required more maintenance just from natural or expected wear -- rust, bending, scratches, paint peeling, surface scruff, residue from wet garbage that was more evident, and so on.  

Then there's this unusual lid on a receptacle in the 500 block of Warren Street that I noticed today.  It has some sort of layer of rubber on top which I've never seen on another lid.  Look how poorly it is doing, look at how ugly it is and easily vandalized it could be. "More durable"? "Cleaner looking"?  I don't think so.

But things may be swinging back to where they were and to where I prefer them. DPW has installed at least two new receptacles in town recently, both of which replaced receptacles destroyed by vehicles doing damage on the sidewalk (which seems to be all the rage these days).  The new receptacle near the Whaler hotel has a sparkling smooth and classy looking wooden lid, replacing a bent black metal lid! Wood is good! It doesn't rust! Wood is soothing to the eyes! Look at how classy and respectable that receptacle is! The new receptacle at 3rd and State (knocked out in March!) also has a new wooden lid, no longer a black metal one. Hmmm.... is DPW giving up on the black metal lids? Did the metal lids fail the test?  

Is metal out and wood back in?

We don't need a trash receptacle at 
3rd and State, but it sure looks nice
with a wooden lid, doesn't it?

My sense is that stickers and graffiti paint are much easier to remove from well-varnished wood than from painted metal.  I'm no graffitist, but if I were one and given a choice, I would opt for an all-black surface as my canvas rather than well protected grainy wood.  

When DPW gets a chance sometime this year, hopefully they will replace the trash receptacle on N. 5th near Long Alley which recently became a loose and listing eyesore.  That receptacle was installed a year or two ago, replacing a receptacle with a wooden lid that DPW hadn't maintained in years.  The entire unit was an absolute disgrace, the wooden lid being a splintered, dried out mess unsuitable for a sidewalk.  The replacement is already at replacement stage.  Will a wooden lid replace the metal lid there now?

I know that most people don't give much thought about what a public trash receptacle looks like or how big the hole on the lid is.  But I think there are helpful insights into how a society handles their garbage, possibly even what its trash containers look like and how they function.  I think we can all agree that a garbage receptacle, especially the lid, shouldn't look like, well, garbage.  That does not reflect well on anyone, or any city.

"Cleaner looking product"?