Solar Sanitation Smashingly Successful

By Mark Forsythe The Kansas City Post Taking a little break today from transit. Based on my hit counter I have everyone's attention so why not use the opportunity for a little environmental activism? Meet Big Belly. He's a $4500.00 solar-powered trash compactor. Pricey yes, but the benefits are long-term and not all things good are necessarily quantifiable. If you read the Post on a regular basis you know I'm a big advocate for clean energy. Solar seems to be generating the most excitement right now with Dot Com 2.0 erupting in Silicon Valley based on the venture capital dollars propping up any company with the word "solar" in its name. Culture shifts and changes in paradigms are the hardest to achieve. Even the biggest optimist wouldn't predict Kansas Citians will be rushing out to install solar systems on their rooftops any time soon. The key is gradual change. Education. Growing up with it. This next generation will not know a time when there wasn't curbside recycling. Why not also influence them by having them grow up in a time where solar powered lighting at bus stops, and yes even solar powered trash cans are the norm? It's not like there aren't tangible benefits to public trash compactors. They have to be emptied far less frequently, and when they do, the attendant need only remove a 40 lb brick of compacted refuse. Quick, simple and ready for the landfill. This also isn't a radical idea. Several cities have already installed the BigBelly including New York, Baltimore, Boston and San Diego. Maybe this year a neighborhood will submit a PIAC application for on of these guys in their park. Better still, perhaps our elected officials can get creative and find some grant dollars to have one or two of these put outside City Hall? We have to start somewhere.