Sunday, Dec. 03, 2006

Bringing Sunshine to Trash

By Kathleen Kingsbury

Jim Poss has a dirty little habit. The alternative-energy entrepreneur is fixated on trash--collecting it, that is. "The U.S. spends more than $45 billion a year to haul away garbage," Poss explains. "That's 180,000 diesel-burning trucks on our streets every day." Plus, those trucks roll, spewing pollution in their wake, whether trash cans are full or empty. As Poss puts it, "I just knew there had to be a better way." So he invented one: the solar-powered BigBelly Cordless Compaction System.

More than 300 BigBellys line streets from Massachusetts to California today, and their appeal is easy to see. Once BigBellys have been installed, the stinky, overflowing trash cans found on urban corners are no more, replaced by what looks like a large newspaper-vending machine that collects rather than distributes. Because the unit can hold at least four times as much as a standard can, trash needs to be collected less often.

Poss has made a career of renewable-energy engineering. He has created a wave-powered generator, various hybrid engines and has worked in solar. In 2003 he started Seahorse Power, which makes BigBelly, using start-up funds from his Babson College M.B.A. program. "Any business effort I made had to have good consequences for the environment," Poss says.

In the New York City borough of Queens, 44 BigBellys have cut down on pickups 70% since the city deployed the units a year ago. "We're very pleased," says Joseph Leary, spokesman for New York Power Authority. "People appreciate the equipment as a sensible application of renewable-energy technology."

Large and green, the BigBelly from the outside also resembles a mailbox. "We don't want people putting their tax forms in there," joked Boston official Timothy McCarthy as he introduced Beantown's 50 BigBellys to residents. It's the mechanics inside that makes the trash compactors so distinctive. Each is equipped with a 40-watt solar panel connected to a 12-volt battery, which runs the motor (the battery guarantees that the BigBelly works rain or shine). At 540 lbs., it's not easy to steal. The unit costs about $4,000, about 10 times the price of a conventional garbage can.

When the bin is full, sensors trigger gears that then compact 180 gal. of waste into 40-lb., easy-to-collect bags. An LED display indicates when the trash is ready to be picked up. Poss has plans for that system to be replaced by a wireless one that will signal when the can is full.