Philidelphia residents are among the first inhabitants of the U.S. of A. to take part in a new program aimed at reducing local government expenses as well as cleaning up the environment…literally. Philidelphia has already begun rolling out a series of solar powered trash cans/compactors/recycling unit combos with a goal of deploying 210 by July. Said units, as the title implies, are completely powered by solar energy. Besides the obvious green benefit of solar energy, the trash cans hold eight times more trash than the old-as-dirt plain cans and feature a unique name – “Big Bellies”. The Big Bellies only need emptying 5 times per week, a vast difference compared to the 19 or more times traditional trash cans need emptying. Naturally, with less emptyings means less city employees that have to drive around to each can which in turn drastically reduces budget costs and CO2 emissions of the vehicles used to reach those cans. The projected savings over 10 years? $12 million. Who said going green wasn’t economical?

Source: Slippery Brick, Inhabitat