By Ucilia Wang
BigBelly Solar, which makes solar-powered trash bins, is lining up Waste Management (WMI) as a North American distributor.
Each trash bin comes with a compactor for compressing trash, a sensor and LED lights to gauge its fullness, and a wireless device to send that information to the garbage collector. A solar panel on top of the receptacle charges a 12-volt battery so that the compactor can work at night.
Before the Friday announcement with Waste Management, BigBelly, based in Needham, Mass., had deployed about 2,500 compactors. Its biggest deal was with the city of Philadelphia, which is scheduled to install 500 of them in its downtown this year. Check out the photo of a BigBelly in Philly in this post, courtesy of our reader Glenn Brooks.
Source: Glenn Brooks
You also can find the bins around Fenway Park in Boston.
Last month, BigBelly said it had raised $3.2 million from undisclosed investors to expand its business.
Lining up Waste Management as a distributor would enable BigBelly to boost its sales. Houston-based Waste Management is a major player in the trash collection and landfill business. The company said it serves almost 20 million municipal, residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Waste Management said it already has installed 15 solar-powered compactors at Patriot Place, a retail and dining space, next to the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Waste Management would be the only company in the trash collection and processing business to distribute BigBelly's solar compactors. But the deal doesn't preclude BigBelly from selling its compactors directly to cities, public parks and private businesses, said Richard Kennelly, vice president of BigBelly.
BigBelly also could line up distributors who are not in the waste collection industry.
