One of the latest communities to embrace the Bigbelly smart waste system is the popular mountain town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Known as the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the family-friendly resort community attracts many visitors to take in the views and vistas.
So close in proximity to the national park land, City of Gatlinburg officials have been challenged with bears accessing the traditional public trash bins for a food source (a problem a bit larger in size but still as meaningful in scale to those pesky rats in New York City)
As reported Knox News, “City spokeswoman Marci Claude said by the beginning of October, the new trash cans will replace 46 open-top cans already on the parkway between the Mountain Mall and the Gatlinburg Convention Center. Claude said the containers are leak-proof and completely enclosed, preventing the attraction of bears, insects, and other wildlife. The move to replace the city’s current open-top trash cans comes after a summer of frequent black bear sightings in and around the city.“
In addition, many of the Smoky Mountains’ 11+ million annual visitors use Gatlinburg as an entrance to the National Park have pushed town’s infrastructure to the limit on peak vacation days. Adoption of the Bigbelly smart waste system is a great example of how the community consistently adapts to accommodate the growing number of tourists.
Thanks to the increased capacity delivered across their fleet of Bigbelly solar-powered waste compactors, “the city expects to reduce the number of trash stops sanitation workers make will save city fuel costs and reduce idling vehicles that cause traffic along the parkway” (KnoxNews). The units monitor their fullness and age, prevent overflows, then send a message to the city’s sanitation department to let them know it is time to empty!
Read more: KnoxNews and WVLT 8 TV … Watch the newscast below!
