While on vacation, I am not really on vacation. I am always working on something around the house, a side business or some consulting. I had a lunch engagement today over at Patriot Place and noticed amidst all the construction going on they had some really cool new Solar Powered Trash Compactors and Recycling bin together as one unit.
I have seen some solar powered trash only bins throughout Boston as featured in the Boston Globe. These units look to be made by the same inventor since it carries the BigBelly moniker. I wonder if these will ever be like WALL-E.
You gotta love seeing Solar panels out in the wild like this!
Picture from the Boston Globe.
The units in Boston go by the name of BigBelly and are developed by a Jamaica Plains native James Poss. He designed them so they need emptying once or twice a day, not the 15 or more sanitation worker visits required by some downtown trash cans. They don’t spill. They smell less. And, they hold some 150 gallons of trash, about five times more than a standard city receptacle and just have one 40lb brick of trash to dispose of when it is all done. This also reduces fuel consumption by around 80% needed to dispose of the trash. These units cost around $4300 and seem to be well worth it. In places where garbage is shipped out like island based communities like Nantucket, Block Island and especially Hawaii, where disposing of waste has been a huge problem due to the tourism industry this product makes total sense.
Hopefully other solar based units like street lights and will also be on their way in to major cities to help contribute to saving power that Boston had initiated for a trial until October of lights out at night for large buildings. Maybe will see future free solar powered Cellphone, laptop, digital audio, charging stations at outdoor eateries. One restaurant in our town has solar powered market umbrellas that light up LEDs for night time dining. We think we may get one since I found them for $79 here, where 8hrs of charge delivers 10hrs of light.
Written by Steven Hughes - Visit Website
