Read on for how Smarter Waste Management is making an impact at South Melbourne Market, originally posted by Bigbelly’s International Distribution Partner Solar Bins Australia:
South Melbourne Market is the quintessential village Market. The home of fresh, local produce and where the community comes to shop, meet, eat and drink. The market attracts a huge volume of foot-traffic, with over 5 million annual visitors. Earlier in the year the Market, won the Institute of Public Affairs Australia’s Victorian Environmental Sustainability Award, sponsored by Sustainability Victoria in Melbourne.
“As community expectations about environmental sustainability grows and waste disposal costs rise, it’s clear that the South Melbourne’s market is hitting the mark on both counts,” Sustainability Victoria CEO Stan Krpan said.
“The South Melbourne Market’s comprehensive program could be applied to other markets and shopping centres, not just in Melbourne, but around Australia,” Mr Krpan said.
“The City of Port Phillip, market management and the businesses that operate there are doing a great job to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping vulnerable people in the community.”
Back in August 2017, as part of an initiative to further implement a more sustainable waste management system, City of Port Phillip installed 3 eye-catching Bigbelly Solar Compactors around zones receiving the highest volumes of foot traffic within the Market area. Since installation, the Bigbellys have collected over 180,000 litres of waste and more importantly reduced waste collection frequency by 89%.
So how does the Bigbelly Solar Compactor work? The Bigbelly uses the power of the sun to charge a 12-volt battery which powers a compaction unit inside of the station. This means that as waste fills up inside of the bin, it will eventually reach two, fill-level sensors that are located on either side which in turn trigger the compaction unit to squash the collected waste.
The result is that the Bigbelly can collect 5 times the amount of waste as a standard 120L wheelie bin.The Bigbelly then importantly notifies the collection team when it is ready for collection via text or email notification, meaning that the bins only need to be emptied when they are full.
As well creating a more efficient waste management system, Bigbellys also keep waste contained with the flagship hopper design which means waste overflow is prevented as well as pest access and wind-blown litter. The hopper design is also paramount in ensuring that members of the public are safe and without access to the internal compactor at all times.
Our latest HC5 models are now also being shipped with a hopper sensor as standard. The addition of a hopper sensor means that that the hopper is now able to collect critical data about the station such as how many times the hopper has been opened each day, or if there have been any hopper jams etc.
We look forward to our continued partnership with South Melbourne Market and for assisting them in maintaining an optimised, smart waste management system for many years to come.
Located in Australia? Please contact Solar Bins Australia to discuss the opportunity to use Bigbelly Solar Compactors at your upcoming festival or event… Phone: 1300 893 810, or Email: sales@solarbins.com.au, or Web: www.solarbins.com.au.
