Solar panels on downtown St. Paul trash cans? Yes, and here’s why

As you walk around downtown St. Paul, you might notice recent updates to a sidewalk staple. The trash cans have gone solar.

“They do a couple of things, so it’s kind of a joke that they’re the Cadillac of the containers,” said Sarah Haas, administrator of the city’s Garbage and Recycling Program. “But our old containers were dated and easy to rifle through and spread litter.”

The city of St. Paul spent close to $475,000 to replace 94 traditional trash cans and 20 recycling bins with 81 Bigbelly smart trash bins, which are each paired with a Bigbelly recycling bin, according to Haas. The containers, which total 162, include solar-powered smart features like compactors, and some have a sensor that alerts workers when the bin is full.

“The main purpose is to provide an opportunity to reduce litter and to provide visitors, residents and folks that are there to work downtown with a way to conveniently dispose of their material so they’re not littering,” Haas said. “Also, the No. 1 thing probably was reducing labor and creating a safer environment for the employees.”

Haas said that because the bins are self-compacting, they can handle up to 150 gallons of material, much more than the previous garbage cans, which held close to 50 gallons of waste. An increased capacity for trash means workers are able to delegate their time more efficiently, and the bins need to be emptied half as often. The new bins are also making their jobs safer, Haas said.

“They were having to take those old bins and lift them up over their shoulders into the truck to dump,” Haas said. “With the new bins, they’re either bagged or use a lifter on their vehicle to empty them. So it’s reducing strain, increasing recycling and beautifying.”

Passersby might notice that the locations of some of the waste bins have moved as well.

“We evaluated the fullness of the container compared with foot traffic to determine placement,” Haas said.

The Bigbelly trash bins look better, Haas said, and downtown does too, as a result. It’s what she’s heard most from the community, she said; that and “Why are there solar-panel garbage cans downtown?”

The solar panels control the compactor, Haas said, and work all year round, even in the snow. The city made sure to place the bins in areas where the sun could reach the solar panels, she said.

Each bin also has a message on the side about reducing litter and recycling more, Haas said. Before the Bigbelly replacements came in, the city had fewer recycling bins than trash cans. Now each waste bin also offers an opportunity to recycle, she said.

Some traditional waste bins are still left in the city, many of which will be moved in the spring, according to Haas; an additional shipment of Bigbellys will be on its way once the weather warms.

One fun feature of the bins is that they can be wrapped with designs and information to promote businesses and events, or simply to display art, Haas said.

“If I use the Wild (for example), and if they want a hockey-themed bin in front of their building, they could sponsor that and have the bins wrapped with that,” Haas said.

Haas said throughout the city, some of the previous trash bins had mosaics on them, which many found to be aesthetically appealing. Those bins are being turned into planters, she said, as the reduce, reuse, recycle motto is being put into practice.