Cincinnati, Ohio
The Cincinnati Park system has been recognized by the Trust for Public Lands and USA Today as one of the nation's top 3 urban parks systems with over 100 parks on more than 5,000 acres. There are 440 trash receptacles spread out over the city, and the parks represent a wide range of trash collection challenges. There are dense urban sites with specific needs, and rural sites with scenic overlooks, picnic areas and active wildlife.
Within a few weeks of learning about BigBelly, the city bought a pilot quantity and rolled them out on Earth Day 2006. Jim Burkhardt, Regional Manager, Cincinnati Parks Department said: "The machines are working magnificently. We installed two in Eden Park, just in time for our Butterfly show. This is the busiest show of the year and lasts for about 6 weeks. We empty the BigBellies once a week. They are better than advertised."
Gerald Checco, Superintendent, Cincinnati Park Board, after conducting an environmental analysis, found that the machines will reduce costs, litter and CO2:
"Our analysis predicts significant savings and operational benefits from using the BigBelly system. The staff cost, the fuel cost and the maintenance cost of the trucks will be cut by half for this task. With the time savings from using the BigBelly system, our trash collectors will be reassigned to other tasks, creating opportunities to do work that was not being done for lack of resources.
Another bonus with BigBelly is that the unit is enclosed. The cans we have now are either open or can be left open, creating a HUGE problem with animals getting into the trash and spreading the trash all over, creating an unacceptable situation in our woods and lawn areas."
"For us, the main issue is environmental. At full deployment, 150 units will allow our department to go from two garbage trucks to one garbage truck — saving enough money in fuel, maintenance and labor costs to pay for the entire BigBelly system in about 3 years. After 5 years, we estimate we will have saved $178,000 in our budget — having paid off the investment in the BigBelly system after year three — and also will have saved 7,750 gallons of diesel fuel and avoided putting 86 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.? That effectively means we?d be paid more than $2,000 per ton of avoided CO2 — making for a very appealing climate change initiative."