Try as I might I could not get YouTube clips of Stone Cold Steve Austin threatening to open a can of whoop ass on the now-President of the United States to activate this trash can’s lid, but I don’t have many other complaints.
simplehuman’s latest iteration of the best trash cans respond to “open can” and motion (but not a foot pedal or touch pad). We love the option of using either batteries or an AC adapter, and while false positives via media audio are frequent, they’re amusing at worst, nowhere near the potential annoyance that can come from an accidental Alexa activation. The “nano-silver” coating is also fingerprint (confirmed) and germ (unconfirmed) resistant.
The can holds 58L and comes in standard and recycler styles (I checked out the latter). The intent for the recycler can is recycling on the left, trash on the right, but since I’m already recycling, composting, and garbage disposal-ing, it would take me weeks to fill up the trash side, so I’ve been using the two halves to sort different recycling (required in NYC). simplehuman should sell extras of the recycling bucket separately, to give people maximum options when using the can.
The best trash cans don’t come cheap, but the relevant question here is how much more expensive the voice-activated models are. simplehuman’s 58L step recycler has dropped as low as $160, rarely, but typically goes for two hundred bucks, compared to $250 for the voice-activated option. Then again, let’s be real, if you want the best trash can and have $200 to spend on it, you’re gonna spring for the upgrade.
The voice-activated cans are available in five colors, though since the lid stays silver regardless of which body color you choose, you should just get silver.