The city of Tacoma is increasing the number of public garbage cans across the city by 50% to improve cleanliness, reduce litter and illegal dumping, and support healthier, more welcoming business districts and commercial areas, according to a news release Tuesday.
The city’s Tidy-Up Tacoma program is adding 120 new public garbage cans, bringing the total number of city-maintained cans to 360, the municipality said.
New cans will be installed in neighborhood business districts and other dense commercial areas, with locations selected using litter-hotspot data, Tacoma FIRST 311 service-request trends, foot-traffic patterns, and equity considerations, the release said. Tacoma FIRST 311, short for Fast Information Resource Service Team, addresses community members’ questions, reports, and service requests. Since starting in 2013, Tacoma FIRST 311 has addressed nearly 850,000 requests from more than 500,000 community members on issues including garbage, animal issues, potholes, homelessness, and more, according to its website…