The new BigBelly solar compactors are one of the ways the Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem, Ga. communities are going green. The waste bin compacts trash allowing more trash to be condensed into a smaller area.
Fort McPherson, GA – Unlike many people watching their weight, the environmental agency on Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem are opting for “big bellies.”
[The] Fort Gillem Environmental Office staff is placing the “BigBelly” solar trash cans on Fort McPherson, said Fred Jordan, environmental protection specialist, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Environmental Office.
The BigBelly trash can, designed by the Seahorse Power Company, is solar powered and may be environmentally safer and friendlier then normal trash cans. It has already been tested successfully in cities like Boston.
The can compresses waste inside the bin, said Owen Nuttall, chief of the BRAC Environmental Office. As trash accumulates, the sensors inside, powered by the solar panel on the top of the can, trigger, activating a compressor.
According to the BigBelly solar compactor website, the can holds up to five times as much trash, up to 150 gallons, before it needs emptying. …
Other benefits of a can that can hold more waste include:
– less manpower
– reduced truck and fuel costs to the government to empty full cans
– less greenhouse gas emissions
…
The Environmental Office staff has installed three of the devices on Fort McPherson: one at Early Park, one at the pavilion behind Bldg. 200 and one at the Mini-Mall.
“We hope the cans catch on and help reduce the amount of trash created by the community,” Nuttall said.
In the south there are a lot of landfills, so people aren’t used to working toward recycling and reducing waste, Nuttall added. To help encourage recycling, the BigBelly trash can has a recycling bin attached to it.
“You have to make it easy,” Nuttall said of changing people’s attitudes toward caring for the environment. “We try to make it as easy as possible.”
