(Source: Duluth News-Tribune (Duluth, Minn.))
By John Myers, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
April 23--Duluth city officials celebrated Earth Day on Friday by heralding 10 new solar-powered trash cans along the Lakewalk.
The new, high-tech trash cans, located between Canal Park and 26th Avenue East, have a solar-charged, battery-operated motor that compacts trash.
To provide easy one-stop dropping for the Lakewalk's roughly 1 million visitors each year, the new units include a recycling bin that accepts paper, cans, bottles and plastic. And the city has placed dog poop stations at the same sites, including scooper bags and a dog waste receptacle.
The Big Belly compactors hold five times as much trash as the old garbage cans and will require only one-fourth the usual staff time to empty, said Tom Kasper, parks and maintenance manager for the city. They even send a text message to city crews when they need to be emptied.
The new cans also are sealed to be water- and windproof and to keep out pests -- from wasps and raccoons to bears and gulls.
Because the units use no electricity from the grid, they create no emissions.
The city is calling the effort the "Toss it Green" campaign.
The 10 new compactor/recycling units cost $54,000, with $41,159 of that funded by a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources solar grant from the state's Legacy Fund sales tax money, said city spokeswoman Amy Norris.
"We'd like to get 30 more for a total of 40 along the Lakewalk, if we can get the grants to do it, and then start putting them in our parks after that," Norris said.
It's the first time the grants have been used for solar trash compactors, with other cities and counties from St. Paul to Ely using the money for solar lighting, and heating and power projects in parks, campgrounds and nature centers.
UMD installed four of the solar-power trash compactors on campus a year ago and liked them so much the school ordered four more. The units operate on about the same energy as one Christmas tree light, running off one 12-volt battery charged by its solar panel on sunny and cloudy days, even in winter.
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