When walking by Midtown, something might strike you as a little odd.
There are still the bars and the restaurants, the street parking and the bookstore, but on West University Avenue, a large black receptacle stands out.
A solar compactor, strategically placed in this high-traffic area, should save the City of Gainesville enough money to bring the compactors on campus.
“It was a project we’ve been working on for a while,” said Stanley Estes, the solid waste field operations supervisor for the City of Gainesville.
The compactors have the capacity of five traditional trash cans, and their cost ranges from $3,000 to $4,000 depending on the volume of the container.
According to solarpanelspower.net, when the container reaches a predetermined level of waste, a sensor is triggered and the waste is compacted using 100 percent solar energy.
The solar compactor was purchased by the city from BigBelly Solar, a company that started the release of the container in 2005.
Robert Dalton, the director of business development for BigBelly Solar, said the company has more than 125 college and university customers.
BigBelly Solar hopes that purposeful positioning of the trash receptacles will intrigue passersby and cause them to become more involved in the disposal of their waste.
“As opposed to an open-lid container, with the BigBelly you have to open the top,” Dalton said. “You’re essentially forcing community interaction, which requires thought, right?” he said. “The individual thinks about what they’re doing. You have to walk up to it; you can’t just walk by it.”
The payback period, according to BigBelly Solar, is about three years, but Estes said the City of Gainesville is on a much shorter schedule.
“We’re looking at one year for a payoff,” Estes said. “At this time, there is no plan for any [on campus] right now. We’re first trying to study them and see how efficient they are.”
Four other containers have been placed around Gainesville, including one on Main Street, one on 13th Street, one behind Oaks Mall and one behind Butler Plaza.
“Institutions want to be able to take that reduction in waste collection and move those newly formed hours to more tasks, especially to tasks on campus,” he said.
