BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors on Richard Stockton University of New Jersey s Campus PROPOSAL

Transcription

1 BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors on Richard Stockton University of New Jersey s Campus PROPOSAL Diane Milleson, Connor Souchek, & Laura Vandyke Dr. Tait Chirenje Stockton University ENVL-4300 Spring 2015

2 Page 1 Table of Contents I. Mission Statement. 2 II. Abstract...2 III. Statement of Need...2 IV. Project Rationale 3 V. Project Narrative a. Goals & Objectives....4 b. Proposed Activities....5 c. Facilities, Resources, & Management...6 d. Evaluation...7 VI. Sustainability VII. References. 9

3 Page 2 I. Mission Statement Our mission is to provide an innovative waste management system for the students, faculty, and visitors of Stockton University. Through the implementation of BigBelly Solar Compactors, we intend to create a more environmentally sustainable, beautiful, and cleaner campus for the future. II. Abstract The purpose of this proposal is to provide an environmentally sustainable waste management system for Richard Stockton University of New Jersey s campus. As of the Spring Term of 2015, the total population on Stockton s campus is 10,035 enrolled students and 304 full-time faculty. This was a three percent increase from the previous year, which is subject to additional growth in the upcoming years. On average every person produces approximately 4.4 pounds of waste each day (EPA, 2014). With these statistics in mind, it can be estimated that around 45,491 pounds of waste can be disposed of on campus in a given day. Currently, there are several outdoor waste receptacles that are subject to overflowing, resulting in pollution of the fragile Pine Barrens ecosystem that the campus resides in. In 2015, Stockton is now qualified as a University, which will lead to increases in the student population on campus in the future. In order to combat the increase in waste production and overflowing receptacles, we propose that BigBelly Solar Compactors replace an estimated 100 waste receptacles on campus. BigBelly s innovative waste management systems have been installed in many universities and towns across the United States with high success rates. These receptacles harness solar energy in order to compact the waste that is held inside of them. This allows for greater volumes of waste to be contained in the receptacle while decreasing the probability of litter on campus. Using wireless transmitters, the receptacles only need to be visited once they are full, allowing for a reduction in the amount of trips by waste management staff. This results in a decrease in the consumption of fossil fuels by garbage trucks, and a decrease in CO 2 emission, along with other harmful greenhouse gases. In order to successfully implement the BigBelly solar compactor system, our proposal outlines a three year timeline for all outdoor waste receptacles to be replaced with BigBelly solar compactors. In the first year, thirty BigBelly solar compactors (dual units) would be installed in high-traffic areas for a total of $210,600, including maintenance. In the second year, an additional thirty dual units would be installed and would cost a total of $211,200, including maintenance. In the third and final year, the forty remaining original outdoor receptacles would be replaced, and would cost $282,000. Altogether, the budget for the threeyear implementation of BigBelly solar compactors on campus would be $703,800. This proposal for a sustainable waste management system integrates renewable energy with innovation technologies that allow for lessened amounts of emissions and pollution on campus. III. Statement of Need Everyday, Stockton University s Plant Management crews tend to the numerous garbage and recycling cans on campus. These cans are located everywhere, from high-traffic zones outside of academic wings, the Unified Science Center, the Arts and Sciences Building, and the Campus Center, bustling common areas outside of residential housing, and athletic fields to Stockton s parking lots, shuttle stops, and nature trails that surround Lake Fred and Lake Pam.

4 Page 3 In order to keep up with trash and recycling collection, Stockton University must devote man-hours, vehicles, fossil fuel, and plastic trash bags to the process each day. However, this procedure costs a considerable amount of money, and sometimes each can is not emptied every day. This creates an issue of trash overflowing out of containers, thus compromising the cleanliness of the Stockton University campus. Furthermore, emptying trash bins when they are not full, or driving around campus to check if the cans need to be emptied, is wasteful in both labor and resources, and is therefore not a sustainable practice. Stockton University s sustainability initiative can be supported through the implementation of BigBelly solar powered trash and recycling compactors. Due to the ability to compact its contents, the BigBelly trash compactor can hold up to five times more refuse than the ordinary trash bins that are currently commonplace on campus. This ability to hold a greater volume of trash reduces the frequency that the bin will need to be emptied. Furthermore, the BigBelly trash compactors are equipped with wireless transmitters that convey the current volume of trash within the bin in real-time to a database that can be made accessible to maintenance crews (Waste Management, n.d.). With the combined benefits of an increased volume of trash per can and the ability to pinpoint which cans require immediate emptying, Stockton University can reduce the amount of plastic bags utilized in the trash collection process as well as reducing the amount of fuel burned and emissions released from the process. The BigBelly solar compactor has been implemented in numerous universities and cities throughout the United States. In each instance, the benefits from implementing the compactor include money saved through the decreased frequency of trash pick-up. Also, cleanliness in areas where the compactor was installed was greatly improved. Furthermore, cities and universities that installed the compactors have reduced the amounts of plastic bags used and miles driven to empty trash cans, thus increasing public awareness of the organization s devotion to sustainable practices. IV. Project Rationale There are several colleges and cities throughout the United States that have implemented the BigBelly solar powered trash compacting system to promote their efforts in implementing sustainable practices on their campuses. Brown University purchased three BigBelly trash compactors and placed them in high-traffic areas on campus. These areas included the university s student center in addition to picnic areas. This sustainable approach to trash collection has generated a great amount of student interest and support. Moreover, the trash cans have reduced the carbon footprint of the university through the decreased need for trash pickups thus decreasing fuel spent on truck use and less plastic trash bags being disposed of. With this success, Brown University plans on purchasing up to twenty more BigBelly trash cans (Lewis, 2011). Boston University has also installed 33 BigBelly solar trash and recycling compactors on campus. These cans have replaced about 60 non-compacting trash receptacles and have required less trash pickup due to the compactor s largely increased refuse holding capacity. Furthermore, Boston University utilizes the BigBelly s wireless transmitter that notifies maintenance crews when the cans are full and require emptying. Overall, the implementation of the BigBelly compactors on the campus have reduced trash collection from fourteen trips per week to less than two trips per week. Lastly, the university has installed the BigBelly cans indoors and in outdoor spaces that do not receive direct sunlight in an effort to unify the trash collection system

5 Page 4 on campus. These cans are hardwired to an electrical source, and still transmit the real-time volume of waste inside the can. Overall, Boston University officials have noticed that the BigBelly solar trash and recycling compactors have simplified maintenance operations, improved campus cleanliness, and made sustainability efforts more visible (Boston University, n.d.). In addition to the multiple colleges and universities that have installed the BigBelly compactors, cities such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hoboken, New Jersey, Salem, Oregon, and Boston, Massachusetts have also began incorporating the cans into their sanitation programs. Philadelphia purchased 500 BigBelly trash cans and 210 BigBelly recycling cans. City officials predict that the reduced need for garbage pickup will result in a savings of over $13 million over the next ten years ( Solar Powered Trash Cans, 2010). Hoboken installed 40 of the BigBelly trash and recycling compaction bins along the city s waterfront. The use of these cans in the pedestrian dense waterfront area has resulted in increased cleanliness as well as reduced need for trash collection (Brenzel, 2013). Salem has installed the BigBelly cans in its city parks, greatly reducing the amount of overflowing containers that previously plagued the open spaces. These cans have also significantly reduced the amount of trips that Salem public works employees make to parks to empty garbage cans resulting in immense savings for the city and a reduction in gasoline usage and air emissions from city vehicles (Casper, n.d.). Boston s purchase and installation of over 400 BigBelly trash and recycling cans have also led to a significant reduction in trash collection costs and fuel usage while drastically increasing cleanliness throughout the city. Boston offset the nearly $3 million cost for the BigBelly can installation and maintenance by partnering with advertising agencies to display ads and signage on the sides of the compactors (Farrell, 2012). V. Project Narrative a. Goals & Objectives As of 2015, Stockton College was renamed Stockton University. Inherently, this means that there will be an increase in the amount of enrolled students on campus in the upcoming years. The EPA states that the average person in the United States produces an estimated 4.4 pounds of waste per day (EPA, 2014). For the Spring Term of 2015, the enrollment data on Stockton s website states that there are 8,933 undergraduate students, 1,102 graduate students, and 304 full-time faculty at the school (Stockton University: Spring 2015 Enrollment Report, 2015). Overall, this was an increase of three percent from the previous year, and has been steadily rising in recent years. At current rates, upwards of thirty to forty thousand pounds of trash could be going into receptacles on Stockton s campus on a daily basis. Stockton prides itself for its moderately developed campus, which is surrounded by acre upon acre of uncut forests. As Stockton has always been renowned for its sustainability and environmental stewardship, the issue of increased waste on campus in the future must be addressed. Currently, many of the waste receptacles located in high-traffic areas are susceptible to overflowing. When waste overflows onto the ground, it is subject to transportation by winds or runoff. Since Stockton s campus is located in the heart of the pine forests in the Pine Barrens, any pollution from campus can have negative impacts on this fragile ecosystem. An increase in the student body on campus will inherently bring more waste to campus as well, and will lead to more overflowing waste receptacles. In order to combat this ongoing and increasing problem,

6 Page 5 BigBelly solar trash compactors could resolve many of the issues a growing population would bring. Stockton University prides itself for its innovative and sustainable use of energy on campus. Yet, besides recycling receptacles, Stockton has not created a sustainable method of managing its waste production. Naturally, a campus with food and recreation will have many sources of waste. With increasing activities in the near future, the campus must be able to use sustainable technologies in order to resolve waste issues. Using a renewable energy source to manage waste, such as the solar energy that is harnessed from BigBelly solar trash compactors, will help to move Stockton University forward in the right direction. It will also create many avenues for further sustainable initiatives to come. There will be many benefits to the installation of BigBelly solar trash compactors on campus in a variety of aspects. Firstly, there will be an eighty percent reduction in the number of trips needed to change each of the receptacles (Waste Management, n.d.). This is due to a wireless transmitter system that lets waste management staff know which receptacles have reached capacity (Waste Management, n.d.). This will result in a reduction of time the staff has to spend changing them, as they will only need to travel to the receptacles that are full. Also, the amount of fuel needed will be greatly reduced since a fraction of the total number of receptacles will need to be visited in a given day (Culgin et al., 2013). The amount of CO 2 emissions from the use of garbage trucks will also be reduced, which will reduce the overall carbon footprint of the campus. As of today, trash receptacles are lined with thin plastic trash bags that are seen as an effective method to collect and transport waste. When the plastic bag is full, the bag is tied and transported to the landfill, where it will then sit for hundreds of years. Since plastic is not biodegradable, the number of plastic bags our campus produces is highly important. With the BigBelly solar trash compactor, the number of plastic bags used for waste on campus will be reduced by a significant margin. This is because each unit is able to harness solar energy in order to compact the trash that it contains and can contain five times the amount of trash as typical receptacles (Waste Management, n.d.). This will result in a large reduction in the amount of plastic trash liners, and will decrease our inputs to local landfills in term of volumes of plastic and waste. b. Proposed Activities The complete implementation of BigBelly solar trash compactors would occur on a threeyear timeline. The first step to this process would be to calculate the total number of outdoor waste receptacles on campus. These are typically paired with a recycling bin, so these would be counted together for this calculation. For the purposes of this proposal, we estimated that there are about one-hundred waste and recycling receptacle pairs on campus. Then, a map would be created that would easily identify the location of these receptacles. The next step would be to work with waste management staff in order to determine the frequency of waste in individual receptacles. The top thirty waste receptacles with the highest volumes of waste, and thus the highest probabilities of overflowing, would be identified. After deciding this, these thirty locations would have BigBelly solar trash compactor s installed within the first year. For an additional cost, a recycling bin would be included as a dual-unit. Upon the installation, a training day would be held for all waste management staff that would be working

7 Page 6 with the BigBelly compactors (Culgin et al., 2013). This training day would last a total of eight hours, and would be held annually from then forward. By the second year of the timeline, another thirty BigBelly solar trash compactors would be installed in areas where original outdoor receptacles are subject to overflowing or high-traffic. These would be identified on the map of waste receptacles on campus, and then would be installed in these locations. The second annual training day would be held after the installation of these thirty units, and there would be a total of sixty on campus by the end of the second year. The third and final year of the implementation process, the remaining forty original outdoor receptacles on campus would be replaced with BigBelly solar trash compactors. A third training day would be held, and the implementation would be completed by the end of the third year. c. Facilities & Resources In order to incorporate the BigBelly Solar Compactors as effectively as possible, we would do so in a three year timeline. The budget, listed in table 1, is categorized by each year of the implementation process. One BigBelly solar compactor (dual unit) costs $7,000, with the trash compactor costing $5,000 and the recycling bin being $2,000 (Atassi, 2012). A study on BigBelly solar compactors found that the average cost of maintaining these units is $20 per year (Culgin et al., 2013). Calculations that are shown in table 1 state that thirty dual units will cost a total of $210,000 in year one. The maintenance of these units, at $20 per unit, would cost a total of $600. In year one, the total budget for the installation and maintenance of the thirty BigBelly solar compactors would be $210,600. In year two, another thirty BigBelly solar compactors would be installed, which would cost a total of $210,000. The maintenance of these units, along with the thirty units installed in year one, would be a total of $1,200. The combined total for year two, as shown in table 1, is $211,200. In year three, the final forty BigBelly solar compactors would be installed, and would cost $280,000. The maintenance of all one-hundred units would cost $2,000. The total for year three would be $282,000, and the overall total for all three years would be $703,800. Year One Expense Quantity Cost Sub-Total BigBelly Solar Compactor (dual unit) 30 $7,000/unit $210,000 Maintenance 30 $20/unit $600 Total $210,600 Year Two Expense Quantity Cost Sub-Total BigBelly Solar Compactor (dual unit) 30 $7,000/unit $210,000 Maintenance 60 $20/unit $1,200 Total $211,200

8 Page 7 Year Three Expense Quantity Cost Sub-Total BigBelly Solar Compactor (dual unit) 40 $7,000/unit $280,000 Maintenance 100 $20/unit $2,000 Total $282,000 Table 1 Estimated Budget for the Implementation of BigBelly Solar Compactors After speaking with David Roesch, Plant Management s Supervisor of Landscape and Maintenance at Stockton University, he indicated that our proposal of implementing BigBelly Solar Compactors on campus is overall a good idea, stating that ideally he would like to see Stockton be a Zero-Waste Campus. He also mentioned that Plant Management has previously explored the idea of implementing BigBelly Solar Compactors on campus due to the benefits they could provide. Unfortunately because of the cost of the units Plant Management did not continue on with the implementation of the BigBelly Solar Powered Receptacles. Although the idea may have not have been feasible in the past does not mean that it could never happen, as David Roesch stated, anything is possible (D. Roesch, Supervisor of Landscape & Maintenance, March 18, 2015). d. Evaluation Program monitoring and evaluating is a crucial element in determining success of a project. To measure the benefits of implementing BigBelly Solar Receptacles on Stockton s campus consists of multiple factors. In the first year after receptacles are installed, maintenance crews should make evaluations monthly, to ensure receptacles are functioning properly. Annual assessments should be done to determine if the objectives are being reached. This can be done through recording measurements of amount recycled, waste volume, savings in waste removal, amount of overflowing garbage cans and the physical appearance of the institution s surrounding environment. Measuring the project s objectives annually can help to implement ideas that could improve the project s results. After the first year, an evaluation from students and faculty is to be done, a simple survey to determine their thoughts on the effectiveness of the new receptacles and how satisfied they are with them. Surveying the public can assist in measuring changes that could be made to improve the waste management system. Once all outdoor receptacles are replaced with BigBelly Solar Powered Garbage and Recycling compactors quantitative monitoring can be done less frequently, every 5 years. Comparing evaluations and measurements assists in determining the results of the projects overall effectiveness in regards to both campus and the environment. VI. Sustainability Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations (EPA, 2015). Stockton s transition to a University is likely to increase the future population of the institution. With this increase in population comes an increase in the amount of litter, pollution, and wasted being produced on campus. Through the

9 Page 8 implementation of BigBelly Solar Compactor Receptacles, waste can be managed in a more sustainable way. Garbage and recycling compactors run on solar energy, making it much more efficient than an ordinary garbage compactor. The BigBelly Solar Compactor can hold five times as much garbage as an ordinary garbage can (Waste Management, n.d.), reducing the need for frequent garbage collections. Solar-powered trash compactors are estimated to reduce trash collections by 80% (Waste Management, n.d.). Less frequent pick-ups of garbage, reduces the amount of greenhouse gases released by garbage trucks. In addition, less frequent pick-ups saves money on maintenance, labor, fuel, and tipping fees for trash collection.

10 Page 9 References Atassi, L. (2012). Cleveland tries solar-powered trash compactor, expected to curb cost of collection. Retrieved March 2015 from ssf/2012/11/cleveland_tries_solar-powered.html. Boston University. (n.d.). BigBelly Trash Compactor. Retrieved March 2015 from bu.edu/sustainability/campus-resources/green-campus-tour/bigbelly/. Brenzel, K. (2013, May 3). Solar-Powered Trash Cans Pop Up Along Hoboken Waterfront. Retrieved March 2015 from powered_trash_cans_join_hoboken_waterfront.html. Casper, B. (n.d.). Solar Compactor Trash Cans Saving Salem Money, Time. Retrieved March 2015 from money-time-1. Culgin, K., Mangan, D., & Pool, J. (2013). Benefit-Cost Analysis of BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors in City of Seattle Parks. The Evans School Review, 3(1), EPA. (2014). Municipal Solid Waste. Retrieved March 2015 from epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/. Farrell, M. (2012, July 14). Boston to Install 44 Solar-Powered Trash Cans. The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 2015 from bostonglobe.com. Lewis, R. (2011, February 7). Solar-Powered Trash Can Reduces Carbon Footprint, Cuts Costs. Retrieved March 2015 from Roesch, D. (2015, March 18). BigBelly Solar Compactors [Personal interview] Solar Powered Trash Cans Save Cities Millions. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2015 from Stockton University: Spring 2015 Enrollment Report. (2015). Retrieved March 2015 from Enrollment Report.pdf Sustainability Information EPA Research EPA. (2015, January 1). Retrieved March 2015 from Waste Management. (n.d.) Solar-Powered Trash Compactor: Powered by BigBelly Solar. Retrieved March 2015 from FactSheet.pdf.