When you think of things that are high-tech and solar-powered, trash cans don't normally jump to mind.
That might change this year when Allentown installs 250 solar-powered trash-compacting garbage cans in high traffic areas and city parks in a bid to get a handle on litter and improve the city's trash collecting efficiency.
The cans will be paid for, installed and maintained by Waste Management , the city's trash collection contractor, and emptied by city solid waste crews.
"We are here to make Allentown a cleaner and greener city," Mayor Ed Pawlowski said Wednesday as the cans were displayed at 12th and Hamilton streets.
The boxy, chest-high receptacles are powered by solar cells and 100 of them will be coupled with a recycling kiosk that will allow passers-by to toss in bottles, cans and paper. They include sensors that use mobile technology to contact the city when they need to be emptied.
Pawlowski said a unit was tested recently at the corner of Sixth and Turner streets and made a significant dent in the litter problem.
"I was shocked," he said. "That corner in those three months was the cleanest I have ever seen it."
City Recycling and Solid Waste Bureau manager Ann Saurman said the cans are far better than the small, blue, pole-mounted litter baskets the city now relies on. The baskets fill up too quickly and can actually contribute to the litter problem as residents overstuff them and they spill onto the street.
Waste Management will chip in $5,000 to help the city educate residents on how to use the new cans. It's one of the largest deployments of the technology in Pennsylvania , behind Philadelphia , which has about 1,000 of the compactors.
Bill Eddy, sales director with Newton, Mass.-based BigBelly Solar, said the cans will cut collection frequency by as much as 70 percent and could save 3,300 work hours and up to 10,000 gallons of fuel.
scott.kraus@mcall.com
610-820-6745
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