One of my favorite historical sites in the Quarter:
Garbage chutes designed (supposedly) to hold garbage from FQ homes, making it easier for garbage men to collect.
I remember these problems:
1. Bags did not fit. So, you shoved it down as far as you could and either broke the bag or you left it stuffed over the top (kind of like how some women wear tight shirts that show the rolls above their pants).
2. Rain collected in them. A lot of rain.
3. Garbage men left them open. People fell in.
4. Tops were broken or stolen. See above.
4. People threw some crazy stuff in there. Just imagine.
So, quietly they were cemented closed or torn up as soon as the sidewalks needed to be repaired. A few enterprising people used them to plant trees, some still are growing.
These are amazingly intact and found on Chartres.

Starting in the 1980s, these were placed in the French Quarter