Wiping Out Waste (WOW) on Bainbridge
The Bigbelly Solar Solution
Celebration of the installment of seven Big Bellies downtown: (Left to right) Debbie Lester (City Council), Chris Wierzbicki (City of Bainbridge Island Public Works), Tony D'Onofrio (Town and Country Market), Eileen (John L. Scott), Sallie Maron and Els Heyne (Sustainable Bainbridge), and Jim Poss (Inventor of the Bigbelly)
After extensive research, WOW Bainbridge identified an innovative and environmentally sound solution for our downtown trash and recycle problem: Bigbelly kiosks. Bigbelly is a solar-powered automatic trash compactor that holds five times the capacity of ordinary trash cans, uses only the sun’s energy for power (even in the Pacific Northwest), and keeps pests out. Alongside the trash compactor is an easy-to-use recycle receptacle for disposing of cans and bottles.
WOW Bainbridge raised $42,000 for seven Bigbelly kiosks for downtown Winslow. Starting this spring of 2011, you can see all seven sets in action! These units need to be emptied only once a week instead of 5 times a week. That means a reduction of 18.1 CO2 tons a year.
The City of Bainbridge Island (through a Winslow Way Construction federal grant), Town and Country, Sustainable Bainbridge, the Rotary Club, Waxie Sanitary Supply and Eileen Black, a realtor with John L. Scott, all purchased a Bigbelly Kiosk. These costs include purchase of both units and five years of collection.
A big thank you goes to Eileen Black, who purchased the first Bainbridge Island Bigbelly (at City Hall Plaza) in 2007 and is now purchasing another one. Thank you, Eileen!
We also received a grant from the Bainbridge Community Foundation and have received donations from Blackbird Bakery, the Chamber of Commerce, Bay Hay and Feed and many, many community members. Thank you all for contributing!
For more information, read the Bainbridge Review article.