Pasadena Gets 40 New “Big Belly” Solar Trash Cans
By Pasadena Independent
Published: Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Pasadena Approves 40 Additional Solar “Big Belly” Trash Containers
In 2007 the city of Pasadena participated in a six-month pilot project — conceived by Leadership Pasadena — to replace public trash receptacles with Big Belly trash receptacles/compactors powered entirely by the sun.
In spring 2009 six of the Big Belly solar compactor units were purchased at a cost of $3,470 each. The return on the investment is gigantic: They reduce collection/service costs, including fuel and staff time, by more than 500 percent (regular trash receptacles are manually emptied at least once a day, six days a week), and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent.
They take up about the same space as ordinary receptacles but the capacity is five times greater. Each one is cordless, self-contained, self-charging, portable and aesthetically appealing, and automatically compacts up to 200 gallons of trash into one neat bag for easy disposal.
The six existing units are in areas throughout Pasadena identified as having the greatest need:
* Lake Avenue at Green Street
* Lake Avenue at Howard Street
* Colorado Boulevard near Bonnie Avenue (in front of PCC)
* Colorado Boulevard at Marion Avenue (ditto)
* Los Robles Avenue just south of Green Street
* Holly Street between Marengo and Garfield avenues (just west of City Hall)
The goal has been to purchase several dozen more units, and that was achieved Monday evening at city council with the approval of the purchase of 40 more to be placed throughout Pasadena.
It’s all part of our commitment to provide a greener, healthier, more cost-effective waste management system for Pasadena, in keeping with our Green City Action Plan (www.cityofpasadena.net/greencity).
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