Solar-powered trash compactor reduces UNLV’s costs, helps environment
Trash might not be ecofriendly, but two big local groups say they’ve found a way to ease its environmental effects.
Clark County’s waste management contractor, Republic Services, partnered with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to install Southern Nevada’s first solar-powered trash compactor. The compactor, at UNLV near its Harmon Avenue entrance off of Swen-son Street, was operational Wednesday. It’s designed to go easy on both the planet and on UNLV’s budget.
"The installation of the solar compactors will reduce the overall carbon footprint for the university while conserving energy usage," said Joe Burkel, president of Republic Services of Southern Nevada.
Alabama-based Marathon Equipment Co. made the Green Built compactor, which will operate on solar power more than 85 percent of the time. The rest of the time, it runs on regular electricity. It could handle up to 160 cubic yards of trash a month while school’s in session.
Facilities and maintenance officials at UNLV say the compactor will save money on more than just electricity. The school’s prior electric compactor was scheduled for twice-weekly emptying, full or not, at a lease rate of $4,200 a month. The new compactor has software that reports when it’s full, so Republic schedules a pickup only when needed, at a projected savings of perhaps $2,500 per month.
Tara Pike, UNLV’s sustainability coordinator, said the Green Built compactor is "part of our global green initiative and our goal to lower our carbon footprint."
"Anything you can get mostly off the grid is a positive," she added.
The compactor could set an example for local businesses looking to green their waste-disposal systems, Pike said.
UNLV plans to add a Green Built solar-powered compactor for single-stream recyclables by the end of the year. The new machine would free facilities managers from supervising sorting, and leave more time for other green efforts.
"We’ll be able to focus more on educating the campus about recycling, getting more recycling bins on campus and doing other projects related to sustainability," Pike said. "We look at it as a great opportunity to improve sustainability at UNLV."
Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.
