Honestly, not necessarily—and I’d be careful about treating “foot pedal” as an automatic durability upgrade. In theory, a pedal bin keeps hands off the lid, so it can stay cleaner. But the pedal adds moving parts: a lever, pivot, spring, connecting rod or cable, and lid hinge. In busy urban settings, those parts collect grit, get kicked, jam, rust, or get vandalized. A cheap pedal bin often fails because the pedal sticks or the spring snaps, not because the bin body has worn out.
Manual-lid bins are mechanically simpler. Fewer parts mean fewer failure points, and a strong hinge and lid can survive years of rough handling. They aren’t perfect, though: people touch the lid, hinges loosen, lids can bend, and wind can flap or damage them.
So the real answer is mixed: pedal bins can last longer, but only when they’re well made and maintained. A stainless-steel or heavy-gauge galvanized body, a protected or accessible pedal mechanism, a corrosion-resistant spring, a reinforced lid hinge, and replaceable parts matter more than the pedal itself. If a city buys budget pedal bins and never services them, they’ll often drop out of service faster than a simple manual-lid bin. If the pedal assembly is robust and spare parts are available, the hygiene benefit can be worth it, and lifespan can be comparable or better.
For urban use, I’d choose based on total cost and serviceability, not just lid type. Ask whether the pedal can be replaced, whether the spring is shielded, whether the bin drains water, whether crews can empty it without damaging the mechanism, and whether it resists rust and graffiti. A well-designed manual bin can easily outlast a poorly designed pedal bin. A well-designed pedal bin can be reliable—but “lasts longer” isn’t automatic; it’s a design and maintenance outcome.