That's a great question, and one that many people in city management or public works departments think about. The short answer is: it can be challenging, but it's rarely "difficult" once you know the proper steps and have the right equipment.
The main challenge with large urban trash cans—the kind you see on street corners, in parks, or outside buildings—is their size. These bins are designed to hold a lot of waste, so their liners are correspondingly large, heavy, and sometimes awkward to handle. A fresh roll of commercial-grade liner can be cumbersome.
Here’s a typical process: First, the old, full liner is carefully tied off at the top to contain the waste before lifting it out. This requires some care to avoid tears and spills. Then, the new liner is unfurled and draped into the empty can. The tricky part is often getting the liner to fully expand and fit snugly into all the corners of a large, rectangular bin without it falling in. For very deep cans, a worker might need to lean in or use a tool like a long pole with a hook to position the liner edges over the rim.
So, is it difficult? Not inherently, but it is a physical task that benefits from technique. Using the correct liner size and thickness (like 3-mil or thicker polyethylene) is crucial—a liner that's too thin will tear easily, making the job messy. Having two people can make it much faster and simpler for the largest bins. The real "difficulty" often lies in doing this efficiently during a busy maintenance route or in bad weather.
With the right supplies and a bit of practice, replacing liners in large urban trash cans becomes a straightforward, routine part of keeping our public spaces clean.