The BigBelly Solar Company Story

Company History

BigBelly Solar was founded in 2003 as Seahorse Power Company with a mission to reduce fossil fuel consumption through innovative new approaches to old problems. In the very early days of the company, founder Jim Poss investigated ambitious new approaches to geothermal power plants and offshore wind energy—the nexus of the original company name (horsepower from the sea). While walking down a Boston street one day and observing a trash vehicle in action – idling at a pick up point, blocking traffic, with smoke pouring out of its exhaust, while litter was still prevalent on the street – Poss was struck by the thought (the necessity, really) that there had to be a better way.

In investigating the problem, Poss learned that garbage trucks consume more than 1 billion gallons of diesel each year in the U.S. alone. The vehicles get only 2.8 mpg on average, and they are among the most expensive vehicles to operate. Drawing on this insight, as well as his experience in electric vehicle engineering and an enthusiasm for environmental solutions, Poss formed a new company – one that gave birth to the world’s first solar-powered compactor. Over multiple generations of product development, the solar compactor has been engineered to be extremely energy efficient through a series of patent-protected processes that allow the unit to operate with high reliability 24/7/365 in the most difficult environmental climates and latitudes. The success and positive customer reaction to the BigBelly solar compactor was so favorable that we changed the company’s name to BigBelly Solar and refocused the company around a central business proposition: saving fuel is environmentally and fiscally sound.

Today, BigBelly Solar is proud to partner with WAXIE Sanitary Supply to offer a complete System to better and more economically manage the process of collecting waste. The BigBelly Solar “Smart Grid for Waste & Recycling™” is an information-centric approach that enables more efficient resourcing decisions. Operating underneath this information umbrella are a series of configurable waste and recycling stations that match capacity to demand . Integrated to this approach is a strong emphasis on recycling – and on freeing up the resources to support the long-term viability of recycling programs.

With more than 12,000 components deployed worldwide, BigBelly Solar is making a significant dent in the wasteful consumption of fossil fuels, saving our customers hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel annually while freeing up thousands of man-hours for other tasks. Our solutions save millions of dollars in aggregate annual budget savings – savings that allow customers to close budget gaps, avoid layoffs of teachers and public safety workers, and continue to provide a high quality of life to their citizens and visitors.