Something New at Garfield and Summit Parks!

Have you noticed the fancy new brown garbage cans at Garfield and Summit Parks?

These cans, called Big Bellys, are solar powered, mini trash compactors. The Parks department has been trying these out at a few parks over the past few years (there has been one at Riverside Park for two years) to see how they work and to determine if they help save time and therefore money when it comes to picking up trash in the city parks.

The cans hold twice the amount of garbage that a regular barrel holds so the theory is that they do not have to be serviced as often, whether it is in a remote park or a very busy park.

The Big Belly receptacles have proven so successful that the Parks Department applied for a federal grant to obtain more of them. This year the Parks Department was awarded $137,900 dollars to install 34 new Big Bellys which brings the total to 44 through out the city park system. Garfield Park received three Big Bellys and Summit Park received one Big Belly.

How do they work? The solar panel on top of the receptacle powers the compactor. As the garbage piles up inside sensors determine the correct time to engage the internal compactor and then smashes the garbage down. There are indicator lights on the front which tell park employees whether the can is full or not. Green indicates lots of room; yellow indicates the can is getting full; and red tells park staff it is time to empty the can. The pull down opening keeps garbage in and rats, squirrels and crows out.

We still need to do our part to help the city save money (tax dollars) and to help our environment. The Parks Department is asking us to pack out our recyclables when we visit the park. This reduces garbage dumping fees which saves the city money (tax dollars) and helps the environment by reducing what goes into the landfill while reusing valuable resources to produce new containers and products.

Take a gander at our fancy, new cans and know that they are saving money and resources. They are just plain COOL!

--Katrina Lindahl