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You've no doubt heard of using solar power for everything from heating your pool to powering your vehicles, so it's no surprise that this field of green energy keeps growing.  The newest novel use of solar energy is to power a city's trash cans. These are not your ordinary trash cans that you might see on a city street because these cans harness the power of the sun to communicate and save cities money, manpower and energy.

What are solar powered trash cans?

Many larger cities like New Orleans, Amsterdam, Boston, New York, and Chicago have already jumped on the solar trash can bandwagon. These cans look like a colorful version of a typical large mail box with openings that vary from round holes to slits and drawers.There are also specially designed containers for cigarette butts. The solar panel sits on top.

Why does a trash can need a solar panel?

These cans sport solar panels on top of the can, which transfers power to keep the internal batteries charged. The batteries will power the can's systems for 72 hours, rain or shine. The cans have electronic sensors inside that direct the can to automatically compact the trash inside when full. Commonly, a city trash can will hold about 35 gallons, but these smart cans will compress the trash to an amazing 150 gallons, giving each can about five times the capacity of normal cans.

In addition, these bins will send a message to it's mothership (city hall) to alert them that it needs to be emptied. This save the city money several ways. Fewer pick ups are needed since the cans hold a lot more trash, and no need to waste money sending a truck to pick up cans that don't really need emptying yet.The savings for cities are impressive, Philadelphia saved nearly a million dollars using the solar powered compacting cans.

The design of these cans also help with odor control and are therefore less attractive to scavengers, such as squirrels and raccoons, for which the traditional heavy metal cans with lids offer little or no resistance. This also means no one has to clean up the messes these critters make of the trash.

These intelligent cans are beginning to appear in more and more municipalities as the cost savings become better known. The future expansion of the communications systems for these cans include the transmission and data gathering of foot traffic, weather conditions as well as serving as a wireless, sun-powered hot spot. Who knows? Maybe these cans at companies like E.L. Harvey & Sons will encourage people to use them and help keep our cities clean and livable.