That's a great and increasingly relevant question! The short answer is: it depends entirely on your local municipality's public works or sanitation department policies, but the trend is moving toward more specific labeling to improve recycling and diversion rates.
In many modern cities, especially those with ambitious zero-waste goals, you are seeing standardized customization. Municipalities are installing bins with specific signage for streams like "Compostables Only," "Mixed Paper," "Plastic Bottles & Cans," and "Landfill Waste." This isn't typically done by an individual or business for a single bin, but rather as a city-wide program to reduce contamination in recycling streams.
If you're a business or property manager within a public space (like a managed park or business improvement district), you might have some leeway to request more specific signage that aligns with your waste generation. For example, a food court might get bins labeled for "Food Containers," "Liquid Waste," and "Utensils." The key is partnering with your waste hauler and local authorities to ensure the labeled streams match what the recycling facility can actually process.
For truly unique, hyper-specific waste streams (like "Used Coffee Pods" or "Pet Waste Bags"), a public trash can is usually not the place. These require specialized, often private, collection programs. The goal of public bin signage is clarity and high-volume capture. So while you likely can't personalize a single city bin yourself, advocating for clearer, more stream-specific signage in your community is a powerful way to support sustainability. Start by contacting your local sanitation department to understand their current capabilities and future plans.