2011 May | BigBelly Solar

Patriot Place

  • May 31, 2011 9:45 pm
BigBelly Solar Kiosk at Patriot Place

BigBelly Solar Kiosk at Patriot Place

Adjacent to Gillette Stadium – home of the New England Patriots – is Patriot Place, a 1.3 million square-foot super regional lifestyle destination. At Patriot Place visitors come to enjoy major fashion retailers, live and interactive entertainment, eateries, a four-star hotel, state of the art theatre and much more. Opened in the fall of 2008, Patriot Place is committed to environmentally responsible and sustainable design practices.

And since Patriot Place attracts thousands of guests, management needs to provide them with a convenient, tidy way to dispose of trash and recycling, while minimizing the time workers need to spend on collection runs.

Patriot Place found the perfect solution in the BigBelly Recycling Kiosks from Waste Management, which comprise a solar compactor and an attached recycling bin with openings to accept “single stream” recyclables (bottles, cans and paper). With fifteen units deployed throughout the facility, Patriot Place has found a system that promotes sustainability while reducing operating costs. During peak periods, Patriot Place management wants to minimize disruptive and unsightly trash collection activity, both as a convenience to guests and to save time for the workers by allowing them to avoid navigating through crowds as they pull bags of trash and recyclables.

“Our WM Solar Powered Compactors are an important piece of Patriot Place’s overall sustainability and recycling initiatives,” said Brian Earley, general manager of Patriot Place. “In addition to promoting recycling and reducing our waste volume and energy consumption, we have realized significant operational efficiencies and cost savings for waste removal.”

While Patriot Place is committed to continuing the environmentally responsible and sustainable design practices that began with Gillette Stadium, and included numerous sustainable design initiatives in the Patriot Place project, many of these initiatives are not readily apparent to visitors (such as white roofs to reduce “heat island” effects, low-emitting materials, bio-fuels, water reuse and energy management systems in the commercial buildings – for more detail, visit http://www.patriot-place.com/greenefforts.aspx). The WM Solar-Powered kiosks, which feature their solar panel at eye level and promote recycling, are visible and used by visitors, making the machines both educational and practical.

The WM Solar-Powered kiosks have helped improve the experience for visitors, showcase sustainable initiatives, keep the grounds clean and reduce worker time spent on waste collection activity. At Patriot Place, truly “Everyone Wins”!

To learn more, and download or print a PDF flyer, click here.

Iowa State University

  • May 26, 2011 5:46 pm
BigBelly Solar Compactor outside Parks Library at ISU

ISU covered its solar compactors in colorful, informative decal wraps to educate people about the technology and the university's "Live Green" Initiative, the sustainability commitment initiated in 2008 by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy

The Iowa State Facilities, Planning and Management (FP&M) department is helping the university fulfill several missions with just one initiative. As a way to “Keep Iowa State Beautiful,” “Live Green,” and reduce operating costs in the face of tightening budgets, FP&M has turned to the BigBelly intelligent waste collection system.

ISU installed the first BigBelly solar compactor in the state of Iowa in 2009. The reviews for this innovative waste collection solution were so high that ISU ordered 11 additional solar compactors in 2010 and 30 more in 2011, for a total of 42 campus-wide.

Saving time while keeping the campus clean and beautiful

Replacing trash receptacles with a network of BigBelly compactors has saved the university time and money since the compactors need to be emptied just once or twice per week by ISU facilities staff, as opposed to traditional trash receptacles which are emptied once or twice per day. ISU installed the solar compactors in high traffic areas where trash cans had to be checked multiple times a day, such as Central Campus, Parks Library, College of Veterinary Medicine and the transit facility in the Hilton Coliseum parking lot.

“The BigBelly system has been a real enhancement to our trash management,” said Les Lawson, manager of campus services. “It has reduced our tipping frequency, kept animals out of the trash, and best of all, students like to see and use the solar compactors.”

The solar compactors are equipped with the CLEAN wireless monitoring system that notifies FP&M staff when the compactors are ready to be emptied. This saves workers the trouble of constantly checking the bins, increasing productivity. Combining wireless monitoring with compaction has freed up significant worker hours for other key tasks.

“Compared to the trash cans we had before, we’ve cut our collection costs by 90 percent,” said ISU Director of Sustainability Merry Rankin, commending the FP&M department for being so forward-thinking and methodical in its adoption of this new system. The university expects the turnaround to financial gain from the solar compactors to be within one or two years.

Triple bottom line: Environmental, economic and social sustainability

Rankin said the success of the solar compactors demonstrates that sustainability efforts can be simple to implement and highly cost-effective. “True sustainability must be sustainable environmentally, economically, and socially – by saving human resources,” Rankin said. “The BigBelly program truly achieves that triple bottom line.”

“This is an instance where we can do very important things to promote sustainability in an economically compelling way,” said Rankin. “You can do great things in a very short period of time, with immediate, measurable results.”

Educational and raising awareness

The machines are covered in colorful, informative decal wraps meant to educate people about the technology and the university’s “Live Green” Initiative, the sustainability commitment initiated in 2008 by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy. Rankin would recommend that other BigBelly customers also spend time on messaging and take advantage of this unique platform: “More people know about and are engaged in the ‘Live Green’ initiative now and the BigBelly system has been an instrumental part of raising awareness,” she said.

“There is a lot of buzz around sustainability on campus, and BigBelly has helped create this buzz.”

To learn more, and download or print a PDF flyer, click here.

NJ.com: Jersey City is getting solar-powered trash bins that will compact contents so pickups can be reduced, saving fuel and labor

  • May 24, 2011 7:50 pm

Jersey City, NJ - The Jersey City Incinerator Authority is in the process of installing 100 solar-powered trash compactors throughout the city, a move the city says will help save time, money and fuel.

The bins, which compact trash to 20 percent of its normal bulk, will replace standard bins located near bus shelters in every ward and on the J. Owen Grundy pier, according to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

“On-site compaction reduces trash pickups, saving time, money and fuel, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Morrill said. “Garbage trucks will only need to empty the 100 solar compactors approximately twice a week as opposed to once a day.”

The standard garbage bins sometimes have to be emptied twice a day, she added.

See the Article

Boston Business Journal: BigBelly Solar is Best Green Practices winner in Innovation

  • May 20, 2011 11:56 pm

Unique container lets light in with innovative trash can

BigBelly Solar Inc. has spent the last eight years convincing cities, parks and colleges that it has literally invented a better trash can.

“Our competition is the status quo,” said Richard Kennelly, vice president of marketing for the Newton firm. “Any other trash can is simply a trash can, no matter how pretty it is. Ours is a self-aware robot.”

Marblehead native Jim Poss founded the company during the last year of his MBA program at Babson College in 2003. His idea was to make a solar-powered trash can that automatically compacts itself, reducing the frequency it needs to be emptied by up to 80 percent. That saves on waste collection costs as well as pollution from garbage trucks, which typically get just two or three miles to the gallon.  By installing a network of solar compactors and recycling kiosks along entire collection routes, the company’s customers can realize substantial system-wide savings.

The concept earned the company a Boston Business Journal Green Practices Award for Innovation.

Today, the company has sold 10,000 of the units in almost every state and 30 countries, offering cities, colleges and parks a potentially immediate cost savings as well as a way to drastically cut the pollution caused by waste collection.

While the privately held company does not disclose revenue nor how many employees it has, Kennelly said it doubled its revenue in 2010, with more than half of its sales coming from repeat customers.

In the past few years, the company has even upgraded its system to include wireless transmitters that automatically alert staff when every waste station in the network needs to be emptied, further cutting down the need for a garbage collector to come around to check on all the receptacles along a route. …

Kennelly’s advice to other “green” businesses is to focus on how they can save clients money, not simply why their product is good for the environment. For example, he said, BigBelly Solar’s customers can see immediate cash-flow savings through leasing. The City of Philadelphia did this in 2009, he said, enabling it to transfer 24 of its 33 waste-pickup employees to staff a brand new downtown recycling program. The city saved $900,000 in the first year, he said.

“Particularly in this economy, you really need to show people that this has a practical and cost-saving benefit,” he said.

See the Article

C40 Cities: Global Best Practice for Waste – Philadelphia, USA

  • May 13, 2011 10:54 pm

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative

C40 is a group of 40 of the top global cities, currently chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, committed to addressing climate change.  The BigBelly Solar intelligent waste & recycling collection system has been highlighted by that group as a global best practice in the category of managing waste.

Philadelphia (USA) has been chosen by the Climate Leadership Group for BEST PRACTICES in the WASTE category.  The citywide use of BigBelly Solar waste & recycling stations has resulted in annual CO2 reduction, financial savings and increased residential recycling rates.

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Waste

Philadelphia, USA

Solar-Powered Public Trash & Recycling Containers

Solar powered trash container, picture courtesy of Philadelphia

Summary

The City of Philadelphia installed 500 solar-powered trash compactors and 210 recycling containers on its downtown streets in the summer 2009.

What is it

In the summer 2009, the City of Philadelphia installed 500 BigBelly solar-powered trash compactors and 210 recycling containers along its busiest commercial corridors.  Because the trash is compacted (using solar power), the containers can contain 150 to 200 gallons of waste—traditional public waste baskets hold 10 to 12 gallons. Therefore, the Streets Department need only pick-up trash 5 times per week, a significant decrease from its previous 19 times per week schedule.  City recycling rates have also increased thanks to the ease of depositing cans, bottles and newspapers in public spaces.  In the span of only a few months, Philadelphia’s residential recycling rates have gone from 7 percent to more than 12 percent!  Another benefit is the reduction of trash on the streets.  The BigBelly contains trash within the unit—wind cannot blow litter down the street and people cannot pick through the containers, an act that sometimes results in spilled trash.  Philadelphia’s streets and parks are noticeably cleaner as a result.

How does it work?

The BigBelly, manufactured in Massachusetts, uses the power of the sun to compact trash after it is deposited into the container.  When the receptacle gets full, it sends a signal to a Streets Department monitoring station alerting it to the need for trash pick-up.  It also locks the can so that no more trash can be put into it until it has been emptied.  Another freestanding container for recyclable materials sits next to the trash container.

Next steps

The City will purchase 500 additional BigBelly waste & recycling stations to expand the program to commercial corridors throughout Philadelphia.
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BigBelly Solar sells 10,000th waste & recycling station

  • May 11, 2011 12:35 pm
Bruce Hicks and Jim Poss shake hands over the 10,000th BigBelly

Bruce Hicks, Operations Manager for Plant Facilities at West L.A. College, and Jim Poss, President and founder of BigBelly Solar with one of LACCD's 200 solar-powered waste & recycling stations

Recipient Los Angeles Community College District expands intelligent waste collection system to 200 BigBelly waste & recycling stations across all nine campuses, freeing up labor for other tasks and beautifying the grounds District-wide

NEWTON, Mass. – May 11, 2011 – BigBelly Solar, Inc., the world’s first waste & recycling collection systems company that integrates renewable power and information technology to dramatically lower the operating costs, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the waste collection process, today announced that it sold its 10,000th waste & recycling station to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).

LACCD first introduced the BigBelly system in 2009 with 75 solar-powered waste and recycling kiosks, and with this latest order LACCD has expanded its deployment to more than 200 waste & recycling stations across nine campuses. The BigBelly system is the centerpiece of a campaign called, “Make a Deposit and Save,” designed to educate and engage the entire community around a major new recycling and waste reduction program. LACCD’s investment in the BigBelly system is saving money, reducing its carbon footprint, and beautifying all nine LACCD campuses.

“The BigBelly system has allowed Los Angeles Community College District to actively promote our sustainability plan and recycling efforts,” said Mona Field, LACCD Board Member. “We are in the midst of renovating all nine of our campuses with green technologies – much of these upgrades are not visible to the community. The BigBelly platform was the perfect fit to showcase all of our projects. Our student tour groups have been using the BigBelly waste stations as the centerpiece talking point for all of our green initiatives.”

The BigBelly intelligent waste collection system combines onsite, solar-powered compaction, efficient recycling solutions and wireless monitoring and management capability to dramatically reduce waste collection requirements. That means fewer trips are needed to collect and transport the material – which reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions – while allowing LACCD to re-deploy workers to other critical tasks. The solar compactors are equipped with a wireless monitoring and notification solution that provides real-time status updates to a cloud-based, web-accessible dashboard. That information allows facilities maintenance staff to optimize collections and maximize the savings benefits from the system.

“The BigBelly recycling kiosks have been a tremendous success, and have made a significant impact at all nine colleges in the District,” said Willie Richmond, Administrator of Maintenance and Operations Standards for LACCD. “With the California state budget cutbacks and consequent staffing shortages, the BigBelly system has made it possible for the custodial staff to spend their limited resources on other areas related to campus cleanliness, making us all more efficient and effective with our time. By holding about 5 times as much trash as standard receptacles, the waste & recycling stations are capable of reducing collection frequency on average by about 70-80 percent.”

The insights provided by the “CLEAN” wireless monitoring and notification system are key to realizing the BigBelly system’s benefits: “With nine campuses that are located far apart, the ‘CLEAN’ wireless feature allows our staff to monitor everything from one place,” said Mr. Richmond. “Best practices from one campus can be used to help the others.”

LACCD replaced about 400 traditional trash receptacles with 200 BigBelly recycling kiosks, working with BigBelly Solar distribution partner Waste Management, Inc. for service and sales support. The BigBelly system has reduced collection requirements from about five per week to less than one per week, boosting staff productivity for facilities maintenance at each campus.

“I am thrilled with the results,” said Bruce Hicks, Operations Manager for Plant Facilities at West L.A. College, which replaced 40 trash cans with 20 BigBelly recycling kiosks. “The BigBelly system has transformed our recycling efforts. We’ve had indoor recycling for a while, but two years ago we launched a major education campaign and installed the BigBelly recycling kiosks around campus to rejuvenate our recycling program. It has been a great success in every way: students use and appreciate them, we get excellent recycling rates and the system helps keep the campus clean and beautiful.”

BigBelly Solar’s intelligent waste collection system has matriculated at about 150 higher-education institutions, in the United States, Canada and Europe. Examples include: MIT, Caltech, McGill, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Boston University, Trinity College Dublin, University of Texas, Virginia Commonwealth, Florida Gulf Coast, University of Georgia, Arizona State, Duke, Northeastern, Wake Forest, Brown, Case Western and Iowa State.

Jim Poss, President and Founder of BigBelly Solar, was delighted that LACCD’s latest order included his company’s 10,000th waste & recycling station. “I have been impressed with the vision, leadership, and comprehensive solution-based approach that the District has demonstrated with its recycling and waste reduction initiative. I am proud to have LACCD as such a shining example and look forward to our continued partnership to enhance sustainability on campus.”

LACCD is in the process of expanding its successful program, which includes colorful “wrap” decal signage on each waste and recycling kiosk, an educational video, and web-based information. Ultimately, LACCD is working toward the goal of creating leaders in sustainability – from both academic and operational perspectives. The new District-wide recycling program is part of the LACCD’s extensive sustainability program. For more information, please see the article and video here.

About BigBelly Solar, Inc.

BigBelly Solar is a leading global provider of innovative and sustainable solutions for the management of waste and recycling, with more than 750 customers in every U.S. state and 30 countries. The BigBelly Solar intelligent waste collection system combines solar-powered trash compaction, efficient recycling solutions, and network monitoring & management software into a powerful approach that enables colleges & universities, as well as municipalities, park systems, government facilities and other institutional customers to reduce the operating costs associated with collection by up to 80 percent. In times when customers are looking for ways to maintain required levels of service while wrestling with tightening budgets, the patented BigBelly Solar intelligent waste collection system is a compelling answer. BigBelly Solar is also enabling its customers in becoming visible leaders in practices that are more environmentally sustainable – displacing fossil fuel usage through renewable energy, increasing recycling rates and reducing cross contamination, reducing litter and associated public health concerns, and creating a messaging platform to engage users and influence more environmentally-conscious behaviors. For more information visit www.bigbellysolar.com.

BigBelly Solar: Eliminating the Waste in Waste Collection ™

Print or download the PDF version

Staten Island Advance: Gateway installs new trash and recycling receptacles

  • May 7, 2011 2:48 pm

http://www.silive.com7Recycle.jpg

Staten Island, NY - In Staten Island’s Miller Field, bellies aren’t just for digesting lunch — they’re for compacting trash and sorting recycling.

Gateway, the division of the National Park Service in charge of Miller Field, has been installing “BigBelly” trash receptacles this spring in an effort to make its parks even greener. One of these trash receptacles has been installed at Miller Field in New Dorp.

These receptacles use long-lasting recyclable batteries and eco-friendly solar panels to produce energy, which is then used to compact trash. This reduces the necessity of trash pickups by 75 percent and slows the increasing size of landfills –making them both environmentally and economically friendly.

The set-up of these receptacles also encourages recycling, and some parks have seen the instances of cross-contamination between recycling and regular trash go from 50 percent to 10 percent. Because they are enclosed they also eliminate overflow; this keeps trash and odor in, and animals out.
Gateway describes the feedback as generally positive; park patrons have been using the receptacles accurately and often.

See the Article

Case Western Reserve University

  • May 3, 2011 1:04 pm

 

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BigBelly Solar waste & recycling stationCase Western has a strong commitment to sustainability, seeking initiatives that provide tangible benefits, engage and educate the community, and reinforce the culture of sustainability on campus.

Waste collection and recycling are important and highly visible parts of that commitment – but the Facilities Services Department had its hands full keeping the busy campus clean and litter-free. Daily collection of trash from about 200 outdoor receptacles was a full-time job, made necessary to keep litter contained and potential food sources away from pests and vermin.

Gene Matthews, Director of Facilities Services, found a better way: his department installed 21 BigBelly solar compactors with companion recycling units in strategic locations around the campus as it arcs between the North and South residential villages, where the majority of trashcans were located. Each BigBelly waste station replaced six to seven of the older waste receptacles, which were a hodgepodge of styles. The units are spaced along the path in clear and convenient locations, and all older trashcans within sight of the main path have been removed. A few units were installed near the two main dining halls, the campus center, and the athletic facility.

“The BigBelly system eliminated the need for daily collections, reducing costs while engaging the community and showcasing our commitment to sustainability.”
– Gene Matthews, Director of Facilities Services, Case Western Reserve University

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To learn more, and download or print a PDF flyer, click here.

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