Bigbelly System Installation

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May 26, 2023: This memo is a summary of our continued waste container pilot review including persistent challenges we’ve encountered, our analysis of design changes to Big Belly’s new compactor models, and our determination for the best waste container solution for Newton moving forward.

Public Space Survey

After an initial survey and anecdotal resident feedback over many years, the city heard regularly that our village centers and parks were plagued by overflowing trash cans. It was with this in mind that we reached an agreement with Bigbelly Solar to install solar-compacting trash and recycling barrels throughout village centers and parks. These solar powered barrels, which include waste and recycling processing, have a positive impact on the environment, on our bottom line, and help enhance the quality of life throughout the City.

What It Means For Our Community

Between the months of April and May, the City of Newton installed 340 Bigbelly Smart Trash and Recycling Units, including solar-powered models, in 170 locations throughout Newton. The new receptacles are beautifying our public spaces by eliminating visible waste, keeping out insects and pests, and reducing bin clutter. The Bigbellies make Newton’s public parks, Village Centers, and school grounds clean and safe places for residents to live, work, and play.

The locations of the new receptacles were determined after an in-depth, data-driven study into locations with highest volume of waste collection. After completing and reviewing this study, Bigbelly in a partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation, determined the total number of needed bins and their locations to reflect the needs and uses of residents.

We are excited to hear feedback on the Bigbellies from all residents. The City will be reviewing all feedback and is open to making changes and/or adjustments as needed. To give us your feedback, please email parks@newtonma.gov.

Bigbelly in Newton

In addition to improving the beauty of our public spaces, the new Bigbellies reduce our carbon footprint by reducing collection frequency and increasing the likelihood of recycling, and they increase our efficiency in disposal by utilizing sensing technologies that alert the City when bins are full.

Bigbelly is a smart waste and recycling system designed for public spaces. Intelligent waste units on the street communicate their real-time status to a cloud-based system dashboard. The system is solar-powered and equipped with rubbish-compacting and sensing technologies. It gathers, consolidates and analyzes data from the smart collection stations to provide real-time waste fleet status into a system dashboard. It delivers monitoring, routing information, and the ability to analyze real-time and historical data.

Adoption of the Bigbelly System promotes a consistent, sustainable, and connected culture catered to pedestrians. While beautifying public spaces, it also maximizes waste management operational efficiency through reduced collection frequency up to 80% on average. The System enables Cities to achieve major environmental goals through complete waste containment and measurable recycling diversion metrics.