Finding Efficiency At Home, In the Trash

Solar-powered trash compactors, while not cheap, pay for themselves relatively quickly. With state and city budgets more liquid thanks to stimulus money, municipalities are snapping them up.

1 minute read

September 11, 2009, 11:00 AM PDT

By franny.ritchie


"Early this decade, company founder Jim Poss, who had worked in the solar and electric-vehicle fields, was struck by the number of overflowing garbage cans he saw and the huge inefficiencies he detected in the carting business. Garbage cans are filled mostly with air and the trucks are expensive to operate-about $100 per hour, all costs considered. "I figured there's a lot of inefficiency there. If you compact trash on site, you can make trucks and the people running them more effective." Instead of spending money driving trucks around-burning gas and spewing carbon dioxide into the ozone-we'd all be better served spending the same money on efficiency-producing compactors. Especially if those compactors keep streets clean by trapping garbage inside them and can be powered by a free source of clean energy: the sun."

Thanks to Franny Ritchie

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 in Slate.com

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

October 28, 2026 - Zachary Whalen

A car drives through a puddle, making a large splash. Rain pours down.

California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour

If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.

October 28, 2026 - Grist

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

A Firefighter sprays water from a hose at a tall blaze.

US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060

Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.

November 4 - Inside Climate News

People cross a crosswalk in Los Angeles.

LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks

Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.

November 4 - ABC7

Two women walking on the sidewalk in Dallas.

Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code

The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.

November 4 - Yahoo News