City talks trash with BigBelly

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City talks trash with BigBelly

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 06 July 2011 00:00

By Brian McBride
Assistant Editor
The BigBelly solar trash compactor in downtown Kissimmee just got bigger.
After seeing the cost savings it would provide from a multi-month pilot program that placed a compactor on East Dakin Avenue, city officials decided to purchase and install 30 more around downtown from its sanitation provider Waste Management.
Public Works used the BigBelly units to replace ordinary garbage cans in some of the higher traffic areas.
The solar-powered waste disposals operate like postal boxes where it opens with the pull of a handle and garbage is placed inside. The refuse is then compacted.
For Public Works Director Dave Derrick, the decision to purchase them was a no-brainer.
“The main reason is that it saves so much on labor,” he said.
With normal garbage cans, sanitation crews had to go around twice a week emptying the trash. With the Big Belly, collection is only once every two to three weeks, cutting down on fuel and manpower costs.
Derrick estimated that each compactor will save the city from $500 to $1,800 a years in costs.
“No doubt about it, it will save a lot,” Derrick said.
Each units costs about $4,000.
The compactors are completely self-powered, using built-in solar panels to compact trash. About the same size as a standard 35-gallon trash
barrel, each compactor provides five times the capacity of a traditional trash receptacle. When the unit reaches capacity, sensors trigger an internal compactor that flattens the contents, converting 180 gallons of waste into easy-to-collect bags. A wireless system then signals a message to the sanitation department that the unit is ready to be picked up. It cuts the need for trash pickup by up to 80 percent, which reduces collection costs, fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Waste Management press release. The compactors also include receptacles for collecting plastic bottles, newspapers, glass and other recyclables.
It also helps with aesthetics as well, Derrick said. City crews were tasked with making sure there wasn't trash lying around the garbage cans. Birds, people and thunderstorms sometimes would knock some of the garbage out of the cans in downtown. With the compactor, that can't happen, Derrick noted.
The city is going to assess how the 30 units perform, and if needed, the city could purchase more for other areas, Derrick said.