By: Briana Smith, Social Media & Product Branding Specialist, WAXIE Sanitary Supply
Accumulation of waste is a major challenge for most college or university campuses. Buildings are spread out across hundreds of acres, requiring a lot of time and effort not just to check the levels of trash in receptacles, but also in travel time. It gets even trickier for larger sprawling campuses, especially those with steep hills.
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is one such campus. It is comprised of six undergraduate colleges, five graduate schools, and two medical schools; in addition, UCSD also operates research institutes. From students to staff, tens of thousands of people are on campus daily, so waste receptacles tend to fill up rapidly. The staff, in particular the landscaping crew, has a lot of ground to cover with a large to do list and only so many resources available.
The replacement of traditional concrete trash and recycling receptacles with BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors & Recyclers has had an immediate impact for the landscaping crew. Trash and recyclables are compacted in a BigBelly station, allowing for more waste to fit before a station needs to be emptied. This also means fewer receptacles are needed overall to handle the same amount of waste.
BigBelly stations are powered by the sun, so there are no batteries to replace and they can be configured based on a facility’s needs. Exterior graphics can also be customized on any of the four panels. UCSD lists which items can be recycled on the compacting recycler and which items should be thrown away in the regular trash compactor. Read more BigBelly FAQs here.
The installation of these BigBelly trash & recycling stations have minimized the number of complaints due to overflowing trash receptacles and staff is now allocated to areas where they are needed more. What’s great is the landscaping crew can now dedicate more time to the actual maintenance of the grounds, as opposed to trash & recycling collection. In fact, trash and recycling pick-up has decreased from eight times a week to only once a week.
As all of the BigBelly stations are networked and accessible via a web dashboard, the status of any of the stations can be checked anywhere on campus. This allows the staff to monitor even the most remote receptacles, as well as establishing historical data over time for future that helps to better understand trends and possible new placements.
Additionally, BigBelly stations decrease storm water overflow. When it rains, water enters from the opening at the top of a typical trash receptacle and then flows out of the bottom or catches in the trash can liner. This can be especially problematic near some of the beach areas that the UCSD landscaping crew services. Because BigBelly stations are closed waste collections systems, storm water overflow becomes a non-issue.
Other benefits include reduction in can liner usage, operation expenses for collections, annual greenhouse emissions (due to pick-up), as well as the elimination of animal intrusion. Plus overall campus aesthetics is improved. Campus visitors can enjoy the campus without seeing large clusters of heavy concrete trash receptacles everywhere.
Overall, UCSD has increased their collection efficiency to 86% due to the BigBelly stations, the 2nd highest in the nation for universities. UCSD has an ultimate goal of reaching zero waste (100% of trash and recycling diverted from landfills) by 2020, plus they want to increase their diversion rate for recyclables. So far, they are off to a great start!
Curious if a BigBelly Solar Trash Compactor or Recycler may work for your facility, campus, park, etc? Looking for ways to increase your waste diversion efforts? Call your sales representative for a free collection study analysis.
READ MORE:
BigBelly Intelligent Waste & Recycling Collection System Overview
BigBelly Video Library – See Them In Action!
BigBelly Solar Website
City of Pleasanton, CA Installs BigBelly Solar Collection System
Do You Have a BigBelly?
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