In my diary entry last night, Crush it!, I wrote about a way to increase recycling with your household or workplace recycling container. Some recycling containers are filled long before the day for pickup of recyclables every week or two. By crushing the plastic, aluminum and paper bottles, cans and boxes, or stacking things like recyclable plastic cups one inside the other, you can make a lot more room in your recyclables container. After your container is filled, just try crushing down the top of the pile with your hands, a foot, or a heavy object.
This reminded me of an interesting use of solar power. In your city, you may have noticed interesting curbside trash bins with panels on the side touting them as good for the environment. These are solar-powered trash bins that compact the garbage placed in them. By creating a smaller volume of garbage, the cities have to send garbage trucks around less frequently to empty the bins. This saves the city money for fuel, and reduces the carbon footprint to fight global warming.
It’s not one of the first uses of solar power we may tend to think of, but it could be very useful. And think of one day these bins being picked up from by solar-powered garbage trucks- Australia already has an electric bus that uses only recharging stations powered by solar panels- or think of private and not just municipal trash bins one day using the solar-powered trash-compacting technology.
It’s just one more innovation to help the environment that should be required by federal and state law. Let people know about them and encourage your municipality or private groups to use them.