A U.S. company that sells in over 30 countries has invented a mini trash compactor with solar panels. “A great environmental and economic savings”

Walking the streets of Portland one might well find BigBelly, a curious mini-bin with solar panels. It has three compartments: general waste, recyclables and even compost. In the second we put the plastic bottles and in the third the remains of our picnic lunch. The hi-tech “trash can” emits a slight buzz: our garbage is compacted. Clever, but not the end of the story. We contacted the manufacturer, BigBelly Solar, an American company that manufactures in the U.S. and sells in over 30 countries, for more information.

“The BigBelly is a complex system,” Vice President of Marketing Richard B. Kennelly told Terra. “In fact, the bins, fully powered by solar energy, are connected through a wireless network to a central control panel accessible by the department responsible for urban waste collection. When the bin is almost full – remember that the compactor increases by 5 times the normal capacity of the container – the control panel receives a signal.”

Thus, the bins contain more rubbish, allowing for a more intelligent collection process for both trash and recycling, limiting the number of trips and optimizing the collection routes with GPS. According to calculations the system may cut up to 80% of the collection trips. “We do not have exact figures on how much CO₂ has been saved overall. But since trips are reduced by 80%, one can simply calculate the emissions associated with the normal garbage truck collection process and reduce those emissions by about 80%.”

A big savings environmentally, but especially economically. In Philadelphia, the City cut annual operating costs by approximately $2,000 per location. The waste collection staff has been reduced by 24 workers who have been reassigned to staff the new public-space recycling program. The cost of “waste management” is not just limited to the cost of the bins, but encompasses the collection operations which can cost up to 3000 € per trashcan each year. The networked compaction system can bring the annual cost per location down to 600 €, paying for the cost of the intelligent bins out of annual savings.

“It might be a suitable system for a city like Naples, with all its waste problems,” Richard suggested. In the City of Naples, based on two calculations, the system could save more than 4 million euros in 10 years with a net savings of at least 400 tonnes of CO₂ a year. In Italy, for now the only ones who have installed the system are the inhabitants of the Gardone Riviera on Lake Garda.

What other beneficial effects have been experienced? Asked Richard again.

“In the U.S. many areas do not have separate recycling collections, not because the bins are expensive but because it costs too much to collect them. With the savings from the networked system customers are able to introduce recycling and composting where previously it had not been feasible.” According to a director of Halifax, Canada, which adopted the BigBelly system, the collection rate for separated recyclable containers has rocketed to 95%.

What can we say: with creativity and taste hi-tech can solve many problems.

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