7+Fig Sidewalk Gets a Solar Trash Compactor

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, February 25, 2008, at 02:25PM

Big Belly at 7+Fig Eric Richardson [Flickr]

Downtown’s BigBelly compactor was recently installed outside 7+Fig.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES —

Standing on the sidewalk outside the 7+Fig shopping center is a box that might make you take a second look. Visually falling somewhere between a mailbox and a book return, the BigBelly trash compactor doesn’t look much like the reset of the trash cans littering Downtown’s streets. It’s big, boxy, and sports a fancy solar panel on top.

Functionally, the unit’s just as different from a normal can as it is in appearance. That solar panel powers a compactor that allows the BigBelly to take in five times the garbage of a normal can before needing to be emptied. Once packed down, each unit can hold roughly 200-gallons of trash.

The units are in use in cities around the country. New York installed its first in 2005, and has since been followed by spots like Chicago, Boston and recently Pasadena. An NPR story from last summer pegged the cost per-unit at $4,000, but notes cost savings from less frequent collection.

This unit is part of a three-unit pilot project by the city, who’s loaning them from manufacturer Seahorse Power. Another unit is supposed to be on San Pedro street in Central City East, with the third out in Venice.



Comments

1
Ginny writes:

I want to try it out. I wonder if it would be okay if Alex and I just brought a week’s worth of garbage from our place and just put it in there one piece at a time.

Maybe not this week…I’m kind of busy.

# on Feb.25.2008 AT 04:35 PM
2
WhoWJD? writes:

These are nifty, but why is there not a choice to recycle next to them? A bum is gonna have a hard time digging for cans in that

# on Feb.25.2008 AT 04:55 PM
3
Scott Mercer writes:

Oh, good point.

Maybe these cans will have the salutory side effect of having no people digging through the trash!

Look, I’m all for the rummagers getting the money back from the bottles and cans and scraping together a little bit of money to buy a McDonald’s double cheeseburger.

But I’ve seen with my own two eyes guys (and it’s always men) pawing through the garbage and emptying out the cans right on to the sidewalk. Not all of them, but enough of them. They leave piles of trash right in the middle of the sidewalk. That sucks. So I’m all for that option not being possible in the future.

# on Feb.25.2008 AT 10:32 PM
4
Bert Green writes:

There are lots of women collecting recyclables, just not so many downtown. They are all over Chinatown and Hollywood. Usually older women.

I think these automatic trash cans should not be used for recyclables. It seems wasteful.

# on Feb.25.2008 AT 10:36 PM
5
anon writes:

We have had one of those on Montana and 14th in Santa Monica for months now.

# on Feb.26.2008 AT 08:34 AM
6
Urban Bruin writes:

Scott: I’d agree, I’ve seen it too many times myself. Piles and piles of trash pulled out and left for others to pickup. I can’t fault people for trying to make a few bucks but they should (but don’t) feel the need to clean up after making a mess.

If the new trash cans prevent trash digging so much the better.

# on Feb.26.2008 AT 09:30 AM
7
Ernest Moniz writes:

There is a New BigBelly Recycling KIOSK unit available from BigBelly Solar sometime in June 2008. It can be configured as a double unit or triple unit separating Recyclables such as Paper and Bottles / Cans from the Waste. The Town of Banff, Alberta, Canada is installing Recyling KIOSKS throughout the downtown public areas as part of their zero waste mandate.

# on Feb.26.2008 AT 07:43 PM

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