By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHINATOWN — It's a common sight on Canal Street: tourists gawk at roast ducks hanging in restaurant windows, locals sample lychees from fruit stands— and everyone swerves to avoid overflowing garbage cans.
Now, one community organizer hopes to change that— by bringing in solar-powered trash compactors to tackle the 15 million pounds of trash generated in the neighborhood each year.
“When it comes to trash, we are the mother lode,” said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership.
Chen has pinned his hopes on the BigBelly Solar trash compactors, which compress up to 150 gallons of trash apiece when full. Eight of the units were installed at Union Square in the last year, and have reduced the frequency of emptying the garbage cans by almost 70 percent, according to the Union Square Partnership.
The Chinatown Partnership is now in the running to buy five of the compactors for their own neighborhood – using a $20,000 community grant from Tom’s of Maine. The company, which makes natural health and beauty products and has a reputation for philanthropy, is currently accepting votes on their Web site.
Each year, more than 28 million visitors pour into the area using the Canal St., East Broadway and Grand St. subway stations, according to the MTA.
"Chinatown is such a huge transit hub. Most people don’t realize that," Chen said. "Think about how many people are coming to Chinatown. Van operators, casino buses, all inter-city buses. Traffic is a huge, huge issue."
The compactors carry a hefty $4,000 price tag, but Chen said the BigBelly Solar units will save the city cash in the long run – by reducing the number of trips city sanitation trucks have to make to Canal Street each day. That could also ease traffic congestion in the area, he said.
There are currently 3,000 BigBelly Solar trash compactors being used in 40 states and 20 countries around the world, according to Richard Kennelly, vice president of marketing for BigBelly Solar, based in Needham, Mass.
"Most of us, when we walk down the street and when we look for a place to throw that coffee cup away, we don't really think how much its costs the city to dispose of that cup," Kennelly said. "It doesn't have to do with the cost of the receptacle. It has to do with the cost of having a truck to go and pick it up from there, and to take it away."
For more information, or to vote for the BigBelly Solar community grant go to http://www.tomsofmaine.com/community-involvement/project-sponsorships.aspx
