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Wednesday, July 12, 2006
‘Big Belly’ bin has no time for waste!
By Aileen Mulhall
THIS solar-powered litter bin holds up to six more rubbish than others of its size and is now to be found on a street in Waterford city centre.
The so-called Big Belly bin erected at Thomas Street two weeks ago outside the 24/7 convenience store is the first of its kind in Waterford.
It accomplishes the feat of being able to take, depending on its size, between four and six times the amount of refuse of other litter bins because it compresses the waste once the bin is full.
The bin is actually supplied by a new local company Ellicro Environmental Care Ltd, founded by James Croke and Anthony Kelly, and installed and maintained by another local company Environmental Recycling Systems Engineering run by Adrian Buckley and Derek Walsh. Both enterprises employ a total of 13 people.
The bin’s waste compactor, which exerts a force of 1600lbs worth of pressure on the rubbish, is powered by the rays of the sun. Just five hours of sunlight is sufficient to power the compactor for 28 days.
“By compressing the waste, the bin doesn’t have to be collected as often and this ultimately reduces the number of waste collection trucks on the road and carbon emissions into the atmosphere,” says James Croke.
He points out that before the Big Belly arrived, the 24/7 store on Thomas Street emptied three litter bins a day outside their store. The Big Belly only requires the store to get the refuse collected once a week.
The other advantage of the bin is that when it’s full, rubbish can’t overflow onto the street because members of the public have to physically pull back a lid to put in their refuse. According to Mr Croke, the bin can be programmed to send a text message to the waste collecting service signalling when it needs to be emptied.
The Big Belly is one of two environmentally friendly waste bins being sold by Ellicro Environmental.
The other is a recycling bin for drink cans and plastic bottles called the Reverse Vending Machine.
Like the Big Belly, the Reverse Vending Machine can compact the cans and bottles it accumulates. It can also be programmed to shred them.
And for each empty can or bottle you feed into it, you get back an incentive voucher, which could be anything from money off a well-known mineral drink to a discount off shopping at a nearby store.
Mr Croke argues that the best way of encouraging people to deposit their used cans and bottles in a recycling bin is to give them an incentive. Indeed, he has lobbied the Government to introduce such an incentive scheme.
He points out that Ireland currently has a very poor rate of recovering recyclable waste compared to countries on the European continent. An incentive system would be the best way of improving this rate, he believes.
“We are working with a few retail outlets in Ireland and also a few large corporations in relation to incentives. What we are going to push for shopping centres is a loyalty card system,” he said.
Mr Croke says they also have signed up to a three-year partnership with Barnardos, so that a donation is made to the charity for every can or bottle deposited in one of their Reverse Vending Machines.
Mr Croke reveals that a French plastic bottle recycling company Soreplia Plastics plans to set up a recycling plant in Ireland that will manufacture new plastic bottles once Ellicro has built up a sufficient stock of bottles.
“This recycling plant will have the ability to create 100 new jobs in Ireland. All the plastic collected at our Reverse Vending Machines will be reused to make more plastic bottles.
“Indeed, we are guaranteeing that all plastics and cans deposited at our Reverse Vending machines will be reused to manufacture new cans and bottles,”
Ellicro Environmental imports both the Big Bellies and Reverse Vending Machines from the United States where they are manufactured by Envipco Product Corporation.
The environmentally friendly bins are used in more than 40 countries all over the world, including 14 European states. There are currently 9000 Reverse Vending Machines in operation around the world.
Senior Envipco and Sorepla figures travelled to Dublin a few weeks ago for the official launch of Ellicro’s environmentally friendly bins.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargeant was the special guest at the function at which the Association of Reverse Vending Machine Suppliers was formed.
Unfortunately, Ellicro’s products have so far been embraced more by the private sector, namely shopping centres, industries and retail outlets than the Department of Environment and local authorities.
Mr Croke says they have been trying to get the Department of Environment to support their recycling products but haven’t received any response to date.
“We are seeking to get a licence to become a voluntary compliance scheme for the recovery of recyclable material.
We want to work alongside Repak,” Mr Croke explains. “In countries where there is more than one version of Repak in operation the recovery rates for cans and bottles is as high as 95%.”
The alternative for Ellicro at the moment is to get companies to sponsor the Big Bellies and Reverse Vending Machines in cities, towns, housing estates, industries and schools.
Mr Croke points out that the cost of their bins can be offset by carrying advertising on them and they can be leased as well as purchased.
For further information on Ellicro Environmental Care Ltd’s environmentally friendly waste bins log onto www.ellicro.ie or contact (086) 870 8137. The company is located at the Six Cross Roads Business Park, Waterford.
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