The company says the surveillance is meant "to prevent refuse from spilling onto sidewalks and streets," which is rich coming from the outfit whose trucks routinely scatter debris down the block without so much as slowing down. As one Bay Area resident put it: "Will the cameras catch when their garbage blows all over the street and doesn't land in their truck and they don't stop and pick it up?"

Good question. The answer, of course, is no.

Here's the setup: cameras mounted on trucks scan your bins as they're collected. If your lid is popped open — even by a couple inches — you could be looking at a new surcharge ranging from $7 to $15. The system is automated, which means the notifications are automated, the penalties are automated, and good luck reaching an actual human being if you think the call was wrong. One local resident reported getting flagged because a bag wasn't smashed down far enough, leaving the lid cracked open by two inches. Two inches.

The accuracy issues don't stop there. Apparently the system struggles to even identify which address a bin belongs to when houses are close together — which describes roughly half of San Francisco. So you might get dinged for your neighbor's overflowing recycling. Enjoy sorting that out with a chatbot.

Let's zoom out for a second. Recology already enjoys a near-monopoly on residential trash collection in San Francisco, a cozy arrangement that has historically kept rates high and accountability low. Now they're investing in surveillance technology — not to improve service, but to extract more fees from captive customers. This isn't innovation. It's a toll booth on your curb.

Meanwhile, residents are dealing with a problem Recology conveniently ignores: other people dumping trash into their bins. As one frustrated SF resident noted, where are the free locks or cameras to stop neighbors and the unhoused from filling your can with their junk before pickup day? If Recology wants to play trash cop, maybe they should start by addressing why bins are overflowing in the first place.

A government-backed monopoly using automated surveillance to fine residents for two inches of open lid space isn't public sanitation — it's a shakedown with a camera attached.