If they've got a bad rat problem, and some places do, I could see it as a public health issue. But forget the jail, they should just levy a fine. I'm sure they could use the money. Especially if they've got a rat problem :)
Since the trash cans have to be somewhere, this would merely move the "rat problem" from the curb to, say inside or behind the garage (or wherever people hide their cans). I suspect the real "rat" problem is inside council's chambers.
If the trash is secured in cans, I don't see an issue.
My neighborhood we have those big industrial containers you "lease" from the garbage people. Some folks move them away from the curb, but they are a big pain so most of the time they are left by the road. I don't have a driveway so ours just gets moved from inside the gate to outside (which my son hates lol).
This looks to me like one of those "it's unsightly" issues- like the locality that told people with pickup trucks they couldn't leave them out in a driveway or curbside, they had to be garaged.
They don't. Rats don't have an easier time of it at the curb than the backyard 30 feet away.
This is all about the new found "right" to a pleasant view.