Salem, MA - The Salem News:
City now selling ads on trash bins
October 1, 2009 09:09 AM
One person's trash may soon be another person's billboard.
The city has started selling advertising space on its BigBelly trash compactors, those green, box-shaped, solar-powered bins that can hold four to five times more garbage than regular receptacles.
The city owns about 20 of them, spread across the downtown, Salem Willows and the Salem ferry parking lot.
Now, for a $500 fee, a company can buy a yearlong sponsorship of one of the trendy trash cans and post its name or logo on a special panel on the side.
Salem is one of the first communities to sell ads on the bins, according to manufacturer BigBelly Solar....
Tom Watkins, the project manager in the mayor's office, said the companies would be supporting green technology.
All the money raised from the ads will be earmarked for future renewable energy and efficiency projects, he said....