Short answer: yes, they can be used, but not just any ordinary urban trash bin will do. Food truck pods can generate a surprising amount of waste—food packaging, napkins, cups, grease-soaked paper, recyclables, and general trash—especially during lunch and weekend peaks. If you rely on standard street bins without a serious pickup schedule, they will probably overflow daily.
The workable approach is to treat the pod like a small commercial waste site. Use commercial-grade bins with locking lids, size them to the number of trucks and expected foot traffic, and arrange daily service—sometimes twice daily on busy days. Separate recycling and landfill waste where possible, and make sure each vendor understands who is responsible for bagging, closing lids, and reporting full bins.
Urban trash bins can fit visually into a food truck pod, but they need more than good design. They need capacity planning, frequent hauls, pest and odor control, and clear rules. With those systems in place, daily overflow is preventable. Without them, even large bins can become a mess by mid-afternoon. So the real answer is: yes, but only with commercial waste pickup and active daily management.