BigBelly Solar, a global provider of innovative and sustainable solutions for the management of waste & recycling, has launched its next-generation intelligent waste & recycling collection system, the Smart Grid for Waste & Recycling.

"BigBelly Solar has evolved from the creation of the patented solar compactor into an enterprise system provider for optimally managing public space waste & recycling collection operations. Every BigBelly and SmartBelly component senses activity and provides information to our customers in real-time," said Barry Fougere, CEO of BigBelly Solar, in a statement.

Fougere said that combined with powerful historical analysis and reporting, these insights provide transparency and control to customers who previously had to assign peak resources at all times given the absence of data to support more targeted resourcing decisions.

That visibility across the entire operation is also attractive at the executive level, which is under increasing pressure to justify investments and provide measurable and verifiable results to their stakeholders."

"I can tell you that the CLEAN management console has made an enormous improvement in how we manage our operations," said Marty Howell, Sustainability Manager for the City of El Paso, which has dropped 9 collections per week and eliminated weekend collections altogether with the BigBelly System.

"We've seen a dramatic improvement in overall cleanliness, while reducing our operating expenses. Like all cities, our agencies are challenged to maintain service levels while dealing with tighter budgets, and we've found a solution that cuts costs without reducing service," said Howell.

Mayor Frank Scarpitti of Markham, Ontario said that as the first municipality in North America to use the BigBelly solar compactors to collect recyclables, not waste, Markham has once again demonstrated its leadership in recycling and in the use of green technology.

"Not only are you saving your operational costs, your staff time, your trucks, you're saving on carbon, and you're giving the proper messaging by making recycling easy and garbage difficult. This is one more significant step toward achieving our sustainability and Zero Waste goals," said Scarpitti.

"Over the past few years, the BigBelly System has helped us reduce operating costs while increasing recycling options and keeping the campus cleaner," said Koby Weatherford, Landscape Maintenance Foreman at Texas A&M University.

Weatherford said that the university is excited to be the first US customer for BigBelly Solar's new SmartBelly system.

“The BigBelly solar compactor has been particularly helpful in our high-traffic areas and we look forward to gaining visibility and control in our less-trafficked areas with the SmartBelly solution," he said.