The most high-tech trashcan you’ll never use
The city is attempting to tackle one major source of litter in New York: public trash bins that overflow and blow across city streets. The solution? A Big Belly?!
Last year, the Department of Sanitation tested a high-tech trashcan called the Big Belly. The Big Belly is a solar-powered, compacting trashcan that can hold from 4 to 10 times the amount of a normal public bin. The company that produces the compactor, Seahorse Power, says that, in addition to less overflow and less frequent emptying, Big Bellies mean less odor and fewer rats.
But at around $4000 each, rather than the $100 price tag on a typical city can, the Big Belly has not yet caught on. Another complaint was that people didn’t recognize the then olive-colored contraptions that looked more like mailboxes than trashcans.
This one never really got off the ground in New York, although there are a couple Big Bellies in use in Chicago and a few other big cities in the U.S.
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On me and my blog
While this blog began as an exploration of litter in New York City (by me, Brooke Edwards–hence the BE in NYC), it has transitioned to focus on how people are using litter and other forms of discarded goods to create commodities. I don’t want it to be strictly about the “green” movement, as there are many other factors motivating the artists and entrepreneurs I discuss to use trash in their work. I hope this comes across in the posts, video, slideshow and podcast that you will see here.
As for me (BE)… 
I am a freelance journalist, graduate student at New York University, and an intern at Scholastic Classroom Magazines. My work has appeared in The Atlanta Voice, The Villager, Downtown Express, Chelsea Now, The New York Resident, NYCReports.com, RunningTimes.com, MensRacing.com, Fast-Women.com, and the Big Bear Grizzly.
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I know something about trash collection and one thing’s for sure, those $100 trash cans don’t cost $100. They cost more like $800 to $1000 at time of purchase (ask the City for their costs report). What’s more, they cost us more than anyone knows because they’re so high maintenance. First of all, they require constant attention since their capacity is limited and litter piles up fast. Expensive teams of trash collection workers make daily journeys on trucks that get 8 mpg, pollute and block traffic – all to empty “fluff”. The Big Belly changes that to 1x to 2x per week max – I’ve seen it first hand. To sum it up: The old fashioned way accomplished a. continued dependency on foreign oil, b. continued proliferation of greenhouse gases, c. annual increases in taxes to pay for the garbage workers who could be on other quality of life detail instead of non-sensical garbage runs, d. traffic congestion. e. Oh yes, those “cheap” city trash cans are a great source of food for rats (yup, we sleep and they feed). Let’s think outside the box everybody and stop sealing our fate. Fight global warming and save the planet for our children and grandchildren.