Big bellies on the streets of West Hollywood? You’re seeing more of them. But in this fitness-obsessed town they aren’t on local residents.
The City of West Hollywood has been installing “big belly” recycling bins along Santa Monica Boulevard that use solar energy to power motors that compact trash. Each of the 18 bins has a capacity of 150 gallons, five times the power of a traditional trash bin.
The city has been installing the bins between Fairfax Avenue and Doheny Drive in areas with lots of pedestrian traffic. They are all expected to be operational by today.
The additional capacity in the “big belly” containers reduces the likelihood of overflow of litter. In addition, the receptacles have built-in cloud computing technology to digitally signal to trash collectors that they have reached capacity and need immediate attention.
During special events, such as West Hollywood’s annual Halloween Carnival, the city will use cardboard event containers to supplement the bins.
The bins, which feature brightly colored graphics on black backgrounds, will collect both trash and recyclables. The receptacles have a custom wrap, which includes slogans such as “Pitch It, Don’t Ditch It” or “Keep It Clean, Don’t Trash West Hollywood.”
Approximately 85 percent of materials collected in the city’s traditional street-side receptacles are recycled. The city’s waste hauler, Athens Services, uses a facility that can process 5,000 tons of mixed materials daily to sort and divert waste, recyclables, and organic matter.
This is FAR more important then all the stooopid articles on the cross walks!!!
Now lets work on a pet park!
LOL @ vomiting in these
How are people supposed to vomit in these after a night on the blvd? Weho better hire more sidewalk spray wash people.
Nice idea – much better han the battered and oh-so-last century stainless steel design. An issue with these in the areas around the nightclubs – and evidenced so far – is that people don’t just “pitch” something “in” with the design of these bins. They need to pull open a door and strategically place things inside. This means people need to stop, think how the system works, put their phone down or the trash to have at least one hand free to pull the door open, and then be strategic (think) about how to get it all into the bin.… Read more »
I suppose Heilman is the one who….
oh forget it…. 🙂
if someone is stupid enough to drop a wallet or other valuable in the bin they don’t deserve a number to call!
FANTASTIC. (I’ve seen them at work in another city and they’re great)
Hmmm. Compacting dog poo along with other trash for recycling? And is there a number to call when someone accidentally drops a wallet or other valuable into the bin?
I checked these out tonight when I was in town. They are very cool. I like the idea. The only thing I think that might be a possible problem is because of the heavy foot traffic in the club areas I think some individuals feeling too happy might be reckless and irresponsible in our city and mess with these. I checked a few out and they are well constructed and sturdy, the one thing I did notice though is the top, with the solar cells, are covered with a plastic shield that doesn’t appear to be very sturdy. I could… Read more »