Here’s the summary: street garbage bins are mostly empty air. Yet it costs a lot of money to empty them out (mostly operation of the garbage truck).  Meet BigBelly.  

This baby is solar powered and compacts garbage on site for a 5-to-1 volume reduction. That should work really well in remote areas (where pickup is expensive) or heavy urban areas (where pickups are very frequent). 

The theory is that while it is expensive to buy up front, because it compacts on site, municipalities can save money by having to pick up garbage much infrequently. 

I haven’t run numbers to verify the claim but I am always intrigued when people come up with technology solutions to simple problems. 

City of Philadelphia leased 500 of these and placed them downtown.  It should be an interesting case study.  The company claims that the city should save $13 million over the product lifetime.  Those claims are often exaggerated but even if it’s half that, it’s not exactly pocket change.

This may well be like CFL bulbs: expensive to buy but save money over the product lifetime.  May be the City of Toronto and other larger municipalities should consider it, I am not sure if Milton is large enough to benefit (yet).

More info on the BigBelly website.