San Francisco considers spending $20K on trash can prototypes By KTVU staff KTVU's Christien Kafton reports. SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco is working on a plan to replace the city's public trash cans. Prototypes they're looking at testing will cost in the neighborhood of $20,000 apiece. While that's the price for the prototypes, the Department of Public Works said the actual units they'll order to replace some 3,000 trash cans will be much less. The department said the current trash cans, especially the green conventional trash cans, are frequently targeted by people looking for valuables inside who break locks, damage the hinges and scatter trash everywhere in the process.