The Town of Ladysmith is putting the squeeze on downtown trash.
Two new garbage bins, outfitted with historical photos and solar panels, popped up on First Avenue two weeks ago in front of the Post Office and Old Town Bakery.
“The two bins are pilot projects,” said Chris Trumpy, the manager of special projects for Ladysmith.
The point of the bins is to see a reduction in the amount of times the bins need to be emptied — decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and saving money.
Typically, normal garbage cans in town need to be emptied three or four times a week, Trumpy said.
“It depends on how much garbage goes in,” he said of emptying the new ones. “But once every week or every two weeks.”
The new garbage bins usually account for an 80 per cent decrease in the amount of times it needs to be emptied compared to the old ones, he said.
“They hold four to five times as much as regular garbage cans.”
These bins will also help in the overflowing issue prevalent in town by using solar panels.
“It’s a neat technology,” he said. “It reduces how many times it needs to be emptied and keeps the downtown looking good.”
The solar panels on the top work by powering a mini compactor inside the bins.
“It’s using the sun’s energy,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be sunny all the time to work, either.”
He said there’s a laser on the top of the bin that feels how high the garbage is inside.
The photos on the outside, courtesy of the Ladysmith and District Historical Society, correspond to the location of the bins, featuring historical photos of the old post office and the old bakery.
The idea was seen in Victoria first.
“They had archival photos on their bins and we thought it looked good,” Trumpy said.
“It fits the heritage aspect of downtown.”
The town still has to decide if the bins are here to stay.
“If we go to full scale deployment, we’ll make sure it fits with the heritage aspect of Ladysmith,” he said.
For now, the bins serve as an example of the town’s commitment to sustainability, Trumpy said.
