Just across from the Canadian border and close in proximity to the iconic Niagara Falls… the Buffalo, New York community is one of the latest to adopt smart waste and recycling management with Bigbelly. The “vibrant village” of Elmwood describes itself as an “urban hot spot is home to Buffalo’s coolest coffee drinking, art loving foodies and fashionable creatives […that…] was named one of the country’s 10 best neighborhoods and boasts some of the city’s most popular boutiques, bars and restaurants.”
We wholeheartedly agree with their description. This lively downtown neighborhood is bustling with pedestrians and well-used public spaces. We are excited to help to make a meaningful impact on their streetscapes with a smart waste system comprised of smart standard capacity and high capacity bins.
As published in “Buffalo Rising” on July 25, 2018, read on to learn how Elmwood Village in Buffalo, New York is embracing their neighborhood’s new Bigbelly smart waste and recycling system:
For years, we have been talking about the benefits of the Bigbelly Smart Waste & Recycling System. This is a system that is designed to alleviate the headaches of standard garbage cans and spin bins (currently on Elmwood). Thanks to grant funding by the Buffalo Main Streets Initiative Fund, the Elmwood Village Association (EVA) was able to procure three double-barrel Bigbelly stations – one in front of Allentown Pizza, one at Reform Fitness (lead image), and a high capacity solar version in front of Spot Coffee.
Each station has enclosed bins for garbage and recycling, this preventing critters and bees from accessing the discarded materials. According to Ashley Smith, Executive Director at EVA, the new system is highly efficient and super durable, and while the old artistic and locally made spin bins and corral stations were fine for their time, times have changed, and the new Smart Waste & Recycling System is the answer.
Ever since they were installed, the spin bins and the corrals were constantly overflowing, and breaking. These new sturdy bins send WiFi signals to the EVA offices indicating that they have reached capacity. The new solar station at Spot Coffee (corner of Cleveland) is a high traffic zone, so it was outfitted with the high capacity model that includes a compactor. That means that five time the amount of waste and recycling can go into that bin, before it signals to the EVA that it is full.
I asked Ashley who was ultimately responsible for the emptying of the new bins, and she said that not much has changed in that department. It’s a mutual effort between the business owners, the EVA, and the city. The cans within the bins have latches that hook up to the City’s motorized dump truck forks, making it easy for workers to empty them. Apparently the City is looking closely at these new smart trash bins to see if they want to place them in other districts of the city.
Source: Buffalo Rising
