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Looking for a place to throw your trash away while strolling down Main Street? Be on the lookout for the town’s new BigBelly solar trash compactors.

The machines also have a section to collect bottles and cans.

The town has been awarded five of these solar-powered compactors by the state Department of Energy Resources after the town was recently designated a “green community.”

All five compactors will be placed on Main Street.

The compactors can hold about five times more trash than regular trash cans. This cuts down on the number of trash pickups and the compactors make downtown look neater, said Sandy Gerraughty, business manager for the town’s Department of Public Works.

“You can fit so much more trash and it is nice because we don’t have the problem of overflowing trash,” Gerraughty said, adding the normal trash cans need to be emptied at least three days a week. “We don’t have a big mess anymore.”

She said one of the largest benefits of the machines is the recycling section for bottles and cans. By having people recycle, it takes away from the total weight of trash collected around town — which in turn saves the town money.

The enclosed trash compactors also keeps bees, other insects and animals away, Gerraughty said.

Previously, Andover’s Department of Public Works had purchased four of the BigBelly compactors, which are in various locations around town and found them to be beneficial, Gerraughty said.

Town Manager Reginald “Buzz” Stapczynski said Andover had been looking to purchase these compactors but due to budget constraints, the purchase was postponed.

“Andover has been designated as a ‘green community’ and the addition of these five units from the grant is a welcomed surprise and a wonderful addition to our newly renovated downtown,” said Stapczynski.

Read the article

See a related article in the Andover Townsman

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Duluth, MN - Found throughout campus are the BigBelly solar trash & recycling stations. These machines rely on solar power for their compaction process, reducing the number of pick ups and overall emissions.

Keeping an eye out for ways to conserve energy is a responsibility that we all share.  But we also need to look towards the future and where we obtain our energy from.

See the Article

CNN reporter Jonathan Blum reports how cities like Philadelphia are putting solar-powered garbage compactors on their sidewalks to save money while going green.

He explains the BigBelly “CLEAN” wireless monitoring and notification system whereby each solar compactor in the field sends text messages to a central server with fullness and collection information — and shows on a tablet computer how cities can monitor all their solar compactors online.

Includes Commissioner Clarena Tolson of the Philadelphia Streets Department explaining how the BigBelly system saved the City nearly $900,000 in the first year alone, with expected 10-year savings of about $13 Million.

Watch the Video

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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts awarded $8.1 million in grants last summer to 35 cities and towns that had successfully earned certification as “Green Communities.” 

These communities also received a total of 133 BigBelly solar compactors and recycling units to support the program’s core goals. 

“These 35 cities and towns are the pacesetters in a growing movement to make municipal operations cleaner and greener,” said Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles. 

Having been a BigBelly Solar customer for several years, with most units deployed at state parks, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is well aware of the benefits of on-site solar compaction for reducing costs and saving fuel. 

“The Commonwealth’s 35 inaugural Green Communities are receiving solar compactors, including recycling units, as they support key grant program goals to promote the use of renewable technology and reduce carbon emissions and energy costs,” said DOER Green Communities Division Director Mark Sylvia. “These solar compactors will raise public awareness of the importance of clean, renewable energy and demonstrate how cities and towns are creating a greener energy future for their citizens.” 

Local Benefits 

Some of the 35 cities and towns had already been enjoying the savings benefits of previously purchased BigBelly machines, while others were welcoming the technology for the first time. 

The Town of Andover, an existing customer, was pleased to received five more BigBelly recycling kiosks as part of the Green Communities program. The units were installed along Main Street last summer. 

Sandy Gerraughty, business manager for the town’s Department of Public Works, said that the BigBelly system cuts down on the number of trash pickups and makes the downtown look neater. 

“You can fit so much more trash and it is nice because we don’t have the problem of overflowing trash,” Gerraughty said, adding the normal trash cans need to be emptied at least three days a week. “We don’t have a big mess anymore.” 

She said one of the largest benefits of the machines is the recycling section for bottles and cans. By having people recycle, it takes away from the total weight of trash collected around town – which in turn saves the town money. 

The enclosed trash compactors also keeps bees, other insects and animals away, Gerraughty said. 

Read an article about BigBelly compactors in Andover 

The Town of Arlington was also awarded five BigBelly solar compactors, with which the Town is quite pleased. 

“Using these solar powered compactors provides the Town with cost efficiencies from labor and maintenance savings, fuel cost reductions as well as environmental benefits”, said Town Manager Brian Sullivan. “It’s another step toward energy efficiency and a welcome benefit of the Green Communities designation.” 

See the Arlington press release and a related Boston.com article 

The Town of Athol received three BigBelly solar compactors with recycling units, and placed them in high volume, high visibility areas in town.  According to Town Manager David Ames, the BigBelly kiosk eliminated trash overflow and windblown litter issues the DPW wrestled with at a lakeside park, where it replaced open-top containers.  “We are very pleased to be a certified Green Community and to be able to showcase our desire to lead the way through the BigBelly units,” said Ames. 

The City of Worcester received seven new BigBelly compactors, which will be placed in public parks.  See the announcement 

Read the State’s press release

Parks’ solar-powered trash cans designed to cut costs, emissions

Indy parks are a little greener this summer.

New to 53 city parks are solar-powered trash compactors that, once activated in the next couple of weeks, will wirelessly monitor when they need to be emptied.

By collecting trash only when the compactors are full, Indy Parks expects to cut fuel expenses, reduce emissions and allow for better allocation of maintenance staff, said Steven Hardiman, spokesman for the Department of Public Works.

“We have high expectations for these helping to save costs,” Hardiman said.

He estimated the city will save $250,000 annually on trash collection and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.

IndyParks … is testing them in smaller parks with less traffic, Hardiman said. Public Works will maintain the compactors.

Like a letter in a mailbox, trash is deposited in a closed, gray container topped with a solar panel. The solar panel absorbs ambient sunlight — which means it’ll work even if the trash unit sits in the shade — to power the compactor. The compactor is triggered by an electronic eye, which looks across the inside of the trash bin and signals when the trash fills up.

With the compactor, the solar-powered bins can hold five times as much trash as a normal barrel, Hardiman said.

That alone reduces the number of garbage pickups, he said, but the compactors also will be hooked to a central monitoring system so city workers can keep tabs on the fullness of the bins. If trash is emptied only when the bins are full, Public Works won’t have to spend as much time or gas on weekly collections.

And the enclosed containers should keep out smells and keep in trash, preventing animals or the wind from scattering litter.

“At this point, we don’t see any downsides at all,” Hardiman said.

Earlier this year, 10 BigBelly Solar Compactors were installed in downtown Bloomington, paid for by federal grant money.

“They work, and they work well,” said Shelby Walker, director of sanitation for the city of Bloomington.

They’re high-efficiency and low-maintenance, he said. The city removed 18 regular bins in high-traffic areas… Walker said he wishes all the city’s bins were BigBelly compactors.

At some Indianapolis parks, where the solar-powered receptacles are just a few weeks old, passers-by, such as Laura Vosahlik, 24, didn’t know how the boxy trash can worked.

But once she found out, she liked the idea.

“It’s going to clean up the park a lot,” said Vosahlik, who often walks her dog through Canterbury Park off the Monon Trail in Broad Ripple.

She’s also trying to become more environmentally conscious, “so this seems like a good start,” she said.

[Original article no longer posted on indystar.com]

Read the City Press Release (PDF)

See the Indy Parks Foundation post on Facebook

See the WXIN-TV report

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Philadelphia, PA – AS THE recession wreaks havoc on government budgets at all levels, public officials are being asked to do more with less. In Philadelphia, no department has met that challenge better than the Streets Department.

Almost 30 years ago, the department had more than 3,200 full-time employees to clean and repair streets and bridges and collect our trash. Today, it has 1,800, a whopping 44 percent less – 7 percent in the last three years. A decade ago, its budget was $256 million, adjusted for inflation. Today it’s $113 million – a 57 percent decrease.

Granted, the city’s population has declined modestly over the years, but the number of streets the department is responsible for – 2,500 miles – has remained the same, and the amount of trash has decreased only slightly.

How has the department done it?

Spurred by necessity, it’s used technology and made smart strategic choices. But even before the ravages of the current recession, the Streets Department had to find a way to make due with less.

Elimination of a federally funded public-sector jobs program in the late 1970s, prior recessions and 16 years of tax cuts have a taken a toll on the Streets budget. Higher wages, pensions and health-care costs have left less money to hire new employees. And the rising cost of the criminal-justice system has diverted money to police, prisons, courts and the district attorney.

While the library, police and fire have strong constituencies to watch their backs during budget battles, Streets has had to fend for itself.

In short, it was forced to find better ways to collect trash and tend the city streets with fewer hands on deck.

One of those ways was better use of technology. For example, the department began deploying larger trucks years ago. This lets it collect more trash per truck with the same three-man crews. The increased capacity has resulted in greater productivity, fewer trucks and trash runs – and thus fewer sanitation workers.

More recently, the department applied this same concept of increased capacity to its trash cans. Technology has given rise to the solar-operated compactors that now populate Center City streets. The 475 compactors handle not only trash but recyclables, too. Each has a capacity of 200 gallons, compared with the 60-gallon capacity of the 700 litter baskets they replaced.

Since the compactors don’t have to be emptied as often, the number of collection runs has dropped from 17 a week to just five. The department has been able to cut its Center City collection unit from 33 employees to eight.

A strategic decision is also making a difference. Mayor Nutter has made recycling a priority, and it’s paying off. Garbage diverted from landfills to recycling bins is money in the pocket – the city pays $65 a ton to dump in landfills, but gets $25 a ton for recyclables, which will jump to more than $50 shortly as a result of a new contract.

Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson, who has headed the department for the past six years, serving two mayors, has seen firsthand the impact of the change in administration priorities. Since 2007, there has been a 57 percent increase in recyclable tonnage, and the city’s diversion rate of trash to recyclables has climbed from 6.5 percent to almost 16 percent. Every section of the city has shown a significant increase.

And the diversion rate will undoubtedly continue to grow as the department deploys another round of new technology. The department’s enforcement officers are now equipped with handheld monitors that allow them to automate the process of writing citations for residents who don’t recycle – or, for that matter, cut their weeds or shovel their sidewalks – and download pictures for evidence, avoiding arguments. The result will be greater compliance, higher revenues and a cleaner city.

GRANTED, there are things the Streets Department no longer does, like leaf collection and bulk pickups. In some cases, organizations like the Center City District have assumed responsibilities the city used to handle. And the budget crunch has slowed down street repavings and pothole repair, particularly after this harsh winter.

But by using its shrinking budget as an impetus to change rather than simply complain, deploying technology and capitalizing on smart administration priorities like recycling, the Streets Department’s core mission is still intact.

See the Article

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Rosslyn, VA Business Improvement District (BID) replaced all 31 of its trash cans in late June with 30 BigBelly solar compactors and 12 companion BigBelly recycling units to cut collections from daily to only twice per week.

The newest technology in solid waste management, BigBelly is an important tool in Rosslyn’s drive to save money and create a more eco-friendly urban district.

“The BigBellies are a big win for Rosslyn and Arlington. One year ago, the Rosslyn BID was in the forefront when we added the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor’s first permanent recycling bins to county sidewalks. This takes that commitment one step further, helping reduce trash pickups, which save energy and money,” says Cecilia Cassidy, Executive Director of the Rosslyn BID.

“We love our BigBellies, we love them!” says Monique O’Grady, Communications Director for the Rosslyn BID. O’Grady expects the BigBelly system to provide a great return on the investment dollar: “The wonderful thing about these BigBelly receptacles is that they eliminate about four out of every five collection trips. That’s about an 80 percent savings in fuel and other resources.”

Even better, the compactors can send an SMS message to operators to let them know, it’s time to collect all that trash.

The regular trash cans the BID were typically emptied early every morning by Arlington County collection trucks, and once or twice each day after that by BID workers.

The BID replaced all of the old trash receptacles with the new BigBelly solar compactors and recycling units. As a result, the County now collects only twice per week.

The cost savings are a great incentive. Arlington County announced that starting July 1 budget constraints required a reduction in trash collection along the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor. The BigBelly system directly addressed the County’s new collection restraints.

Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette says the Rosslyn BID’s purchase of the solar compactors aligns with Arlington’s 2010 focus on fiscal and environmental sustainability. “The County applauds the Rosslyn BID for proving that it is possible to leverage technology to achieve cost savings and improve services,” says Fisette.

Read the Press Release