That moment when New York City realized that it doesn't have to resort to clogging its curbs and sidewalks with loose bags of trash and can instead rely on sophisticated technology: Trash cans
Car brain in the comment thread...
Trash bags take up exactly as much space as a trash bag for exactly as long as it is on the sidewalk. Trash cans take up more than their maximum capacity regardless of how full they are, 24 hours a day.
And the tweeter's reply...
Despite having the best public transit system in America, New York City has 3 million on-street parking spaces, more than 95% of which are free, and your concern is… trash cans taking up too much space? Sorry, but if you love the rats so much, why don't you marry one?
I hate how much simpler and more effective it could be here with a modicum of effort and thought, ugh. And of course not having to rely on a profit motive would basically solve most of it, but even that notwithstanding there are so many less dumb ways to make it more feasible to actually recycle stuff here.
On the smallest of silver linings it's usually a really good example to show libs how personal responsibility doesn't effect positive change if large systems they operate in run counter to their efforts.