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Friday, October 9, 2009

Portland The Different Kinds of Trash Cans that There Are

Posted by Jane "the Intern" Carlen on Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 4:58 PM

Photosynthesis has a new best friend.

McDonalds wrappers, now denser than ever
  • McDonald's wrappers, now denser than ever

In the last few weeks, The Portland Business Alliance and the City upgraded 11 of Portland's garbage cans to solar-powered trash compactors, bringing the total number of such machines downtown to over 20. Each one can hold five times as much trash as a regular garbage can and is covered for smell-containment. Cherry bomb owners, take note.

Funding for the garbage cans of tomorrow comes mostly from private businesses, but also quasi-public groups like the Oregon Zoo and Portland General Electric.

From the most recent press release:
"The Portland Business Alliance facilitates the donation of BigBelly units to the City of Portland. Once the units are installed, the city maintains them. The units will help [the] city cut back on trash pickup and prevent overflow of waste. These effects also lead to better air quality for the city; if all trash cans were converted to BigBelly units, the city could reduce CO2 emissions by at least 25,000 pounds per year."

As far as I can tell, there's nothing stopping an individual from sponsoring one either. All it takes is a donation of $3,975 (tax deductible, of course). Plus, you get to adorn the can with the logo of a non-profit of choice, your favorite generic Portland streetscape, and your very own personal icon! I mean, can you think of a better place than the side of a trash can to proudly display your company name??!! I sure can't.

If you are eager to incorporate futuristic waste-condensation into your daily routine, the press release also lists the locations of the newest garbage-stomping receptacles. 15 more are slated for November installation.

 

Comments (12) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
It's a $4,000 trash can.
I sure like em and would love to have one in my house, but then the local trash haulers would go out of business.
Say it out loud - it's a $4000 trash can.

Posted by D on October 9, 2009 at 5:02 PM · Report
2
You're not going to like this D, but you're regular old fashion concrete model can run upwards of a grand and a half.

http://www.thefind.com/garden/info-concret…
Posted by atomic on October 9, 2009 at 5:38 PM · Report
3
Oh I know. Heck - the dogproof home ones at Target are like $150
Posted by D on October 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM · Report
4
Plus, this helps to put self-employed recyclers (the unemployed, homeless and freegans) out of business.
Posted by Smiley on October 9, 2009 at 6:59 PM · Report
5
Ding ding ding!
Posted by DemonJuice on October 9, 2009 at 8:51 PM · Report
6
As in the earlier story about different kinds of people, the "that" in the title is completely extraneous and just bad writing. Please remove.
Posted by quigley on October 10, 2009 at 6:57 AM · Report
7
In regards to Jane Carlen's otherwise excellent Blogtown report of Friday, October 9, 2009:"The Different Kinds of Trash Cans that There Are," a point of clarification needs to be made in reference to Oregon Zoo's involvement with the climate-friendly, Big Belly refuse containers here in Portland.

As accurately reported by the Portland Business Association media release cited in the Portland Mercury article: "Early adopters of the BigBelly trashcans were the Oregon Zoo, City Center Parking, and Unico Properties." Indeed, the Zoo was proud to step forward and introduce these containers- and the green technology they represent - to 1.6 million+ annual visitors.

However, the Zoo did not expend its own funds for any of these receptacles as Ms. Carlen suggests: "Funding for the garbage cans of tomorrow comes mostly from private businesses, but also quasi-public groups like the Oregon Zoo and Portland General Electric."

The Zoo's containers were paid for by solid waste collection-related revenue in the form of a grant from Metro. So yes, PGE and other local businesses deserve applause for their support of this creative endeavor. Keep Portland Weird? How about "Big Bellys are good for Portland!"
Posted by Rick H. on October 10, 2009 at 11:27 PM · Report
8
Learn about www.phillythrowsgreen.org and the Philadelphia Greenworks project.

They are saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per year from their placement of BigBellies. And reducing fuel consumption, improving recycling, and buying/leasing more. The invention has proven more efficient - dollars and emissions - than driving around in trucks 4X more than needed. That's change in a good way. I am proud that Portland is rethinking century-old methods too.
Posted by portlandgreenworks on October 11, 2009 at 12:11 PM · Report
9
"Keep Portland Weird? How about "Big Bellys are good for Portland!"

Fantastic. I'm replacing all the bumper stickers I see in town.
Posted by Blanders on October 11, 2009 at 4:07 PM · Report
10
A fairly useless effort in the grand scheme of things. How about paying people for vasectomies/tigal ligations? Far more of an environmental impact thousands of times over.
Posted by NIG GER on October 11, 2009 at 8:45 PM · Report
11
I love comment threads like this. All the haters hating and offering no better solutions.
Posted by Graham on October 12, 2009 at 11:07 AM · Report
12
Graham's just sad that he's late to the party.

I'm not so freaked out by the concept or the price but I do have a problem with the use-ability of these things. There've been a few of these around town for a while and they're so covered with ads and graphics that it's hard to tell a) that they're trash cans and b) how to operate them. I've actually watched people at Pioneer Square look at one, shrug, and put their trash on top of the thing! That's some bad design if you can't make the thing identifiable and operable.

So, in the interest of being constructive: lose the advertising and graphics. Replace them with a big old arrow marked "trash" pointed towards the trash-hole.
Posted by Carl on October 12, 2009 at 11:33 AM · Report

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