Solar Powered Trash Compactors Solve City Problems

By Author: Lucy Carter
Total Articles: 102
Comment this article

New solar powered trash compactors have been showing up all over the Bronx, NYC, and resemble mailboxes more than the customary green trash cans of the city. Known as Big Bellies, these receptacles are the same size as a regular trash can but can hold up to five times as much trash. When the receptacle fills up, the solar powered compactor compresses it to free up more space. This means that the crews responsible for emptying the cans can do so every two or three days instead of several times each day.

Last year the Bronx president's office bought 15 Big Bellies and allocated them in the borough's six business improvement districts. Despite the fact that each receptacle costs about $4,000, the reduced sanitation and maintenance expenses translate into long-term savings.

The compactors proved to be efficient and effective for many BIDs, however maintenance workers still find it difficult when adjacent trash cans overflow with trash and recyclable bottles and cans. When the recycling bags pile up on street corners they're prime targets for bottle-and-can collectors who redeem them for deposit.

The city ...
... of Chicago also decided to give Big Bellies a try as a means of solving the problem of trash buildup on its Lake Michigan waterfront beaches. The beaches tend to get dirty and that, in turn, attracts birds. The bird droppings contribute to unhealthy levels of E. coli bacteria in the water, leading to periodic swimming bans on some beaches.

The 55-gallon trash cans the city once used would overflow regularly, providing the gulls and pigeons with a sumptuous buffet. As an alternative, the city tried 95-gallon plastic carts with lids but these were often toppled by the wind and many people neglected to close the lids. So in the summer of 2007 the city turned to Big Bellies for a solution.

Big Bellies are fully enclosed and hold large amounts of trash so they don't contribute to overflow problems. They're also heavy and anchored down so the wind can't knock them over and scatter trash all over the beach as a result. The Big Bellies are also easy to use, with a pull-down handle on a small door which you open to insert trash. The built-in compactor is powered by a 12-volt battery that gets recharged by energy captured by solar panels. Given the direct sunlight received by beaches, they're an ideal location for Big Bellies. But these futuristic trash receptacles are so practical that they can even capture enough ambient light on shadowy street corners to do their job. Like the Bronx and Chicago, more and more cities are turning to the Big Belly to solve their trash accumulation woes.
Oliver Newton is the owner of Priority Plant, providers of Johnston Compact and other trash compactor products.