Your trash bins are about to get a whole lot smarter.
The city of San Diego is planning to roll out a new batch of trash and recycling bins fitted with RFID (radio frequency identification) microchips. These are the same chips that are already embedded in the city’s green compost bins.
City officials say the new technology will help optimize trash pickups throughout San Diego by tracking which bins belong to what homes. This can help pinpoint when someone throws hazardous waste in the bin, like lithium batteries, for example.
How it works: The city will assign each chip to a specific address and record when and where the bin is picked up. The chips will transmit this information to RFID readers on garbage trucks. When a truck lifts each bin to empty its contents, the system will log the date and time. This information will then be stored in a database.
City officials have said the chips do not send or record live location data.
That’s not all: This is part of the city’s plan to improve service in exchange for charging single-family homeowners for trash pickups. The city first proposed a monthly fee of up to $53. Officials are now proposing a fee of $47.59 per month, but that would gradually increase to almost $60 by 2027. On Monday, the City Council voted 6-3 to set a date in June to consider the proposed fee.
Earthquake!
San Diego officials on Monday evacuated and closed City Hall following a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. The City Council relocated its scheduled meeting on the trash fee to the San Diego Civic Theatre.
“No building damage has been reported, and ongoing assessments are being completed out of an abundance of caution,” a city spokesperson wrote.
The Union-Tribune reported that while there was no widespread damage across the county, some roads in eastern San Diego were closed due to boulders that fell and a rockslide in Granite Hills. Residents closest to the quakes’ epicenter spoke to the paper about their experience.
“It was pretty powerful. It was intense,” an office manager of Julian Pie Shop told the U-T. “It didn’t last long enough to get a chance to react. Everyone froze.”
The internet did not disappoint. San Diegans were quick to share their reactions to the earthquake. ABC 10 shared viewer submitted videos of the earthquake – arguably most are of cameras shaking rather than furniture.
One video of a woman who rushed to pick up a baby and then proceeded to run out of the house has gone viral. She shouts, “Get out! Get out! Get out!” as she races out the door and a man in the house follows.
But the earthquake content winner was the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. A video released by the zoo shows how a herd of African elephants circled around younger elephants to protect them during the earthquake.
“This behavior is known as an ‘alert circle’ and is intended to protect the young—and the entire herd—from threats,” according to a statement from the zoo. Watch the video here.
From the archives: San Diego isn’t at the highest risk for devastating earthquakes, but it’s not immune.
Border Report: Haitian Immigrants Face An Uncertain Future
In the parking area of a local home improvement store, Voice contributor Kate Morrisey spoke to a group of Haitian immigrants searching for work.
They were looking for labor work and odd jobs – anything that could help them feed their families.
Morrisey writes that this practice used to be more common among immigrants from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. But in recent years, the demographics have changed.
Recent policy changes by the Trump administration are directly impacting immigrants from Haiti. That coupled with an increasing struggle to find work has left many Haitian immigrants worried about their futures and their families’ futures.
In Other News
- The San Diego City Council will vote today on a proposed ban on rent-pricing algorithms used by many landlords. An analysis last year found that renters living in buildings that use these algorithms paid an additional $99 more per month. (Axios San Diego)
- A senior lawyer in the San Diego City Attorney’s Office is receiving full pay while on a four-month cruise that she embarked on just weeks after being promoted by the new City Attorney. (Union-Tribune)
- Here’s a list of resources that can help prepare you for any future earthquakes or other natural disasters. (Fox 5)
The Morning Report was written by Tigist Layne and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
What a waste of tax dollars. Optimizing trash pickup (eye roll). Pinpointing a lithium battery? That’s unseen in a trash bag? The neighbor who throws a battery in another’s can? This are excuses for higher rates.