The sanitation department in Bloomington, Ind., is using solar power to waste less in managing its waste.

The department has 12 new solar-powered trash compactors in its downtown area that have made a big impact on the department’s carbon footprint, said sanitation department director Shelby Walker.

“Before, when you had trash in a container downtown, it was loose trash,” Walker said. “We had to go check on it every day.”

Now the solar-powered trash compactors squish the contents of downtown trash containers, compacting it and making it so drivers only have to collect trash once every three or four days, Walker said.

The new compacting system also came with monitors that allow Walker to see how full each container is remotely.

“Those containers have become an on-call pick up,” Walker said. “We don’t even approach those containers until they’re full and we know it. We idle a lot less downtown now, and we drive downtown a lot less now.

Each of the $4,000 compactors comes with a battery back-up for cloudy or dark days, Walker said.

“But I can’t see that any of them have ever used the battery,” he said. “Those units are not attached to the grid in any way. It’s all solar and those batteries, and I can’t see if it’s ever needed the battery.”

Bloomington installed the first 10 solar-powered trash compactors in June and July with money from a Department of Energy grant, Walker said. They were so successful at reducing the sanitation department’s trip downtown and consequently its carbon footprint that the department purchased two more of the machines on its own, Walker said.

He said the department isn’t considering expanding their use any more because the containers downtown are serving the population well and outside of downtown, most areas are residential.

“There isn’t much need for this in the residential areas,” Walker said.

Bloomington, home of Indiana University, is known as one of the state’s most proactive and green communities.

The city council has praised the new trash cans and their impact.

“They’ve made a big difference,” Walker said. “We love them.”

Image courtesy of Big Belly Solar.