2011 June | BigBelly Solar

BigBelly Solar opens new sales office to support European expansion

  • June 30, 2011 11:40 am

Historic Stein am Rhein, Switzerland

“After the trial period, we concluded the BigBelly system had more than proven itself. We then purchased units to cover the entire tourist sector.” – Oliver Von Ow, Building Authority, Stein am Rhein. The BigBelly system eliminated the need for burdensome collections over weekends and holidays, reduced the cost of fuel and labor, reduced CO2 emissions, and helps keep this lovely, historic town clean and litter-free.

NEWTON, Mass. – June 30, 2011 – BigBelly Solar, Inc., the world’s first waste & recycling collection systems company that integrates renewable energy and information technology to dramatically lower the operating costs, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the waste collection process, today announced a new European sales office in France.

“I am delighted to work directly with an already robust and growing group of customers and distribution partners in the region,” said Hervé Tenaglia, the new Regional Sales Director for Europe. “Many European cities have been enjoying the benefits of the BigBelly system for several years now, and I look forward to introducing the benefits of our system to a growing number of customers while supporting and reinforcing our high-value distribution network.”

BigBelly Solar has approximately 150 European customers with nearly 1,000 solar-powered waste & recycling stations deployed across 20 countries. Distribution partners that provide sales and service in the region include CSE Clean Solutions, Kyron Energy & Power, and Plastic Omnium, a strategic partner marketing the BigBelly system under the brand “Solar’ium”. Customers realizing the benefits of the system cross a variety of market segments, such as municipalities, higher education, transportation and retail, and include Strasbourg and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France; Luzern and Stein am Rhein, Switzerland; Bournemouth and Cambridge, UK; Frankfurt, Germany; Salzburg, and Lutz furniture retailer, Austria; Trinity College, Dublin; Gardone Riviera on Lago di Garda, Italy; and Bratislava, Slovakia.

“After the trial period, we concluded the BigBelly system had more than proven itself,” said Oliver Von Ow with the Building Authority in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland. “We then purchased units to cover the entire tourist sector,” eliminating the need for weekend and holiday collections, eliminating litter, reducing the cost of fuel and labor, and reducing CO2 emissions.

“We are delighted with the efficiencies the BigBelly system provides on campus,” said Noel McCann, Facilities Manager, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. “The solar compactors have eliminated the problem of vermin and birds attacking binned rubbish and scattering it around the College grounds.”

With rising fuels costs, increasing concern about carbon emissions and climate change, and the need for new and innovative approaches to maximize resource efficiency in difficult budgetary times, the BigBelly system is ideally suited to the challenges facing European customers. The waste & recycling stations within the BigBelly Solar system are CE and RoHS compliant. The integrated energy management and monitoring software enables the solar-powered stations to work reliably in all seasons and climates, which is well suited for the varied latitudes and environmental conditions found across Europe, while also providing real-time visibility and transparency into waste & recycling operations.

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 & recycling collection system combines solar-powered compaction, efficient recycling solutions, and network monitoring & management software into a powerful approach that enables municipalities, colleges & universities, 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 ™

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Alex Norris – Councillor and Portfolio Holder for Area Working, Cleansing and Community Safety, Nottingham, England

  • June 29, 2011 3:15 pm

“The City Council works with partners to keep the city clean and is always looking at ways to keep the streets litter-free. The new solar powered BigBelly self-compacting litter bins being trialled are a good example. They are very effective because they can reduce the number of times crews have to go out to empty them and even at the busiest locations will never overflow and look unsightly because the bins automatically email cleansing staff to say that they are ready for emptying. This saves time and money.”

The Boston Red Sox

  • June 29, 2011 10:51 am
Boston’s historic Fenway Park – the oldest ballpark in the league – hasn’t changed much over the years. The Green Monster still looms over left field, surpassed slightly in height by the neon Citgo sign that has illuminated Boston’s skyline since 1940. But Fenway Park has changed in some very noticeable ways. Its rafters now team with members of Red Sox Nation, hoping to catch a glimpse of World Series greatness; the park pulsates with an energy it’s never seen before. But those sold-out crowds generate a significant amount of
trash, which has been making its way into the substantial residential neighborhood surrounding Fenway Park.

Good Neighbor

Neighborhood residents were justifiably concerned. Despite the City of Boston’s valiant efforts to keep pace with the trash, receptacles overflowed with unsightly and unhealthy garbage. Residents, public works officials and Red Sox management met and agreed that simply putting out more trash barrels would increase labor, truck and fuel costs associated with added collections trips. The City offered a solution: a public-private partnership to deploy more of Mayor Menino’s weapon of choice in the battle to keep public spaces throughout the Boston clean and litter-free – BigBelly® Solar Compactors.
New Fans

The same size as traditional waste barrels, BigBelly holds five or six times the amount of trash by compacting it on-site. Self-powered by solar energy and requiring no wiring, the super-efficient BigBelly can be deployed virtually anywhere – even in locations with no direct sunlight. The City of Boston has been steadily deploying BigBelly compactors for the last two years with the ultimate goal of utilizing them throughout the city. Fans at opening day at Fenway this year were greeted by their World Champion Red Sox and by a team of BigBelly
Solar Compactors ready to make sure the neighborhood around Fenway Park remain clean and litter-free. BigBelly was a home run, celebrated by both the Red Sox and the neighborhood residents.
Team Effort

“We have become big fans of BigBelly and are supportive of the continued deployment of BigBelly compactors into the neighborhoods surrounding Fenway Park,” said Jonathan Gilula, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for the Red Sox. “In addition to the dramatic increase in capacity provided by the units, the enclosed design keeps litter in the receptacles – not overflowing onto the streets. This is a great example of business, area residents, and the City working in concert and in everyone’s best interests.”

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© Copyright 2008 BigBelly Solar. All Rights Reserved. BigBelly® is a registered trademark of BigBelly Solar, Inc.

Salzburg, Austria

  • June 22, 2011 12:47 pm

Salzburg, Austria

The fourth-largest city in Austria and birthplace of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salzburg is a beautiful Alpine city with an internationally renowned “Old Town” (Altstadt) recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Keeping Salzburg beautiful – but at great expense
With all the welcome commercial activity and tourism, keeping Salzburg clean and beautiful is no easy task.  Overflowing garbage cans not only damage the image of cities and towns, but also harm the environment and increase the financial burden on crews manage the mountains of waste.

There are some 2,000 trash cans throughout the city, many of which must be emptied three or four times every day.  During special events, such as the European soccer championships held in Salzburg a few years ago, keeping the city clean requires extra containers and increased collection trips, substantially raising fuel costs and overtime pay expenses.

BigBelly system meets criteria for success
Michael Wanner, Director of road and street cleaning for the City of Salzburg, described two essential problems with public waste collection. One is the visibility of waste: “We are always concerned that the waste will not find the container and that litter will spill out even when properly disposed of. This is why we tend to use large containers, but at the same time we seek a solution that discourages the dumping of household waste.” The second essential problem is the required high frequency of collection trips, with the associated costs in money, fuel, vehicles and labor.  “Downtown we have to collect waste from the containers four times a day. That requires large staff capacities and also several collection vehicles. The costs of worker time, vehicle distance traveled and fuel consumed significantly increase city expenses.”

Working with BigBelly Solar’s European distribution partners, the City installed the BigBelly waste collection system in a busy downtown area. After a few months, city officials concluded that the BigBelly system had satisfied their criteria for success: Reduced collections, reduced litter, and positive public response.

“We have seen that, instead of four collections a day, we only need to travel and collect every second day,” said Mr. Wanner.  “The system speaks for itself in terms of environmental benefits, as a solar-powered network that will save a very significant amount of vehicle travel and resulting CO2 emissions, as well as freeing up work capacity for other high-priority tasks.”

Positive public reaction, and additional revenue opportunities
“The users’ reactions are very positive because, among other things, the waste is contained inside and out of sight,” said Mr. Wanner.  “Furthermore there is the possibility of selling advertising on the solar compactors. Some companies are already interested.”

The BigBelly system is helping make this landmark European city cleaner and more efficient, at a net cost savings.

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The City of Philadelphia

  • June 18, 2011 11:20 am

BigBelly Solar Compactor and Recycling Kiosk in Philadelphia

On April 30, 2009, Mayor Michael Nutter unveiled the first of 500 “BigBelly” solar-powered trash compactors and 210 companion single-stream recycling units to be installed throughout Center City Philadelphia, replacing all 700 of the old litter baskets downtown. The solar compactors are also equipped with the CLEAN wireless monitoring system so they are “smart” trash receptacles: each unit sends a wireless signal to alert staff when it is full, so managers can optimize collection routes in real time based on data from every machine in the field. The City had been making 17 trips each week to empty 700 wire baskets throughout Center City, at an annual cost of about $2.3 million. After replacing those 700 receptacles with 500 solar-powered compactors and 210 recycling units, the City collects only 5 times a week, at an annual operating cost of about $720,000 – representing a 70% savings. The City will save nearly $900,000 in the first year alone, and nearly $13 million over the next ten years. The deployment plan was a comprehensive package including a 3-year financing program, a 4-year extended warranty and service plan, and a wireless monitoring system on all 500 units.

“This technology will save taxpayers money, introduce sidewalk recycling and keep our streets clean. This is one more important step towards achieving our sustainability goals.” - Mayor Michael Nutter, City of Philadelphia


To learn more, and download or print a PDF version of the case study,
Click here for the Executive Summary, or Click here for the Full Study.

Charles Klonaris, Co-Chairman of the Downtown Nassau Partnership

  • June 14, 2011 4:54 pm

“We think it is very economical and environment friendly. It reduces the number of trucks that have to come in and they are run by solar energy. The garbage and smells are contained better and the sight of the garbage is dealt with.”

Turkish Article in Solfasol: Solar Powered Trash Containers

  • June 10, 2011 3:03 pm

[This article is in Turkish.  An English summary follows.]

S M A R T   C I T I E S
Solar Trash Compactors

By Ozsel Beleli

We all contribute to the problem of garbage, and municipalities face an enormous challenge in finding cost-effective ways to transport and dispose of the garbage we create.

In the face of rapid growth and changing consumption habits, urban solid waste management agencies in Turkey have been looking for solutions to the solid waste challenge, including source reduction, composting, and recycling.  The high costs of collection and disposal provide strong incentives, along with the environmental costs of air pollution and noise pollution.

In the U.S. and Europe there has been much progress and some new methods and technologies in the search for better waste management.  Of the recent innovations the one that interested me most is the BigBelly Solar Trash Compaction System (www.bigbellysolar.com).

Jim Poss, a young entrepreneur who developed the first prototype in 2003 with the help of some private investors, has steadily grown his company so that now many cities across the U.S. and abroad are customers.  Wandering around Boston, for example, one finds BigBelly solar compactors in hundreds of locations downtown, along the waterfront, in city parks and at Harvard University.

The BigBelly system has two basic features. First, by using solar energy to compress the trash at the point where it is thrown away, the solar compactors hold 4-5 times more garbage than a standard trashcan. Accordingly, the cost of carrying the garbage away is greatly  reduced. The second property of the solar compactors is an integrated software program, each one sending its fullness and collection information wirelessly to a central system where it can be viewed and analyzed in real time. This way the waste is collected neither too early nor too late, and waste transportation costs are significantly reduced. The frequency of litter collection, seasonal fluctuations in use, and other information about garbage collection can readily be analyzed so that any required  changes can be determined to make collection routes more efficient.

All these features allow the BigBelly system to reduce the frequency of garbage collection by 80%.  Within a short time, the savings from reducing collection frequency add up and the system pays for itself.  For example, the City of Philadelphia in 2009 replaced 700 litter baskets downtown with 500 BigBelly solar compactors and 210 companion recycling stations.  At the end of the first year with the new system the City had saved $900,000.

It is exciting to see a smart product that provides a much-needed solution to a major municipal problem.  Who knows – with the creative spirit recently shown by the city’s leaders maybe we will see the solar compactors in Ankara soon.

See the Full Turkish Article

Frank Zeoli, Director of Recycling, Albany, NY

  • June 10, 2011 10:42 am

“This system is helping to save on the carbon footprint of Albany. Our goal is that hopefully more people walking down the streets with empty bottles and cans will put them in the recycling bins as opposed to the trash.”

Claudia Marsales, Senior Manager of Waste and Environment, Markham, Ontario

  • June 10, 2011 10:37 am

“I don’t think we send the right message to the public if recycling is difficult but garbage is easy. The message we want to send is … let’s make recycling easy and garbage difficult. Not only are you saving your operational costs, your manpower, your trucks you’re saving on carbon, you’re giving the proper messaging.”

Fred Stovall, Director of Public Works, City of Dayton

  • June 10, 2011 10:34 am

“It allows us to become more efficient in dumping these trash cans. Currently we have to go to those bus stops two or three times a week. With these solar compactors I can send a crew to dump these once every two or three weeks.”