Lake Macquarie City Trialling Solar Powered Bins

New South Wales’ Lake Macquarie City Council is the latest local government to give solar powered rubbish bins a whirl.

The RAY Smart Solar Powered Compacting Bins have a 60-watt solar panel protected by a polycarbonate cover that charges a battery within powering a compaction device. The solar panel and battery enable the units to run for up to four weeks with little to no sun according to Council, and the compaction device expands waste capacity from an uncompressed 240 litres to up to 1200 litres.

Sensors inside the bin alert the operator when it 80% full, so collection can be organised. If the operator doesn’t get there in time and the bin is full, it automatically locks.

The first bin has been installed in Warners Bay and another will be placed at Toronto Foreshore in the coming months. If the trial is successful, Council says more smart solar bins could be installed at other popular locations.

The solar bins are a nice, albeit expensive, touch. The $30,000 project has been funded by the NSW Government through the Waste Less, Recycle More initiative and a Community Building Partnership grant.

“I was very pleased to support Council’s request for funds for this innovative solution for waste in the local area,” said Member for Charlestown, Jodie Harrison.

Various types of bins have been trialled by a number of Councils across Australia. While the bins may be “smart”, there is no cure for stupid – not even solar power.

Victoria’s Surf Coast Shire Council installed BigBelly bins in Lorne back in 2016, and for the most part, they had performed well. But in late 2020/early 2021, the bins were thwarted by people wedging items such as pizza boxes in the bin hoppers, and this resulted in blockages. How Surf Coast Shire addressed the issue isn’t clear.

Another issue I’ve seen first-hand is scratching and graffiti on the polycarbonate solar panel cover on bins in Sydney, which would have some impact on solar energy harvesting.

More Than Just Solar Bins

Lake Macquarie City Council is one of more than 170 local governments to sign on to the Cities Power Partnership (CPP), Australia’s largest network of councils working towards a zero emissions future. CPP members make five pledges, chosen from a list of potential commitments. Among Lake Macquarie’s is to power council operations with renewable energy, and set targets to increase the level renewables over time.

Council’s CPP page indicates the organisation has been installing solar panels on its assets for quite a few years. An initial target to achieve 200 kilowatts of solar capacity was trebled as part of Council’s 2014 Environmental Sustainability Action Plan, and the new target of 600kW was reached in 2018.

At the time the CPP page was published/updated, Council had install 1.38 megawatts of solar panels across 27 Council building, with more to come. Other emissions reduction actions included the rollout of 56,00 LED streetlights, and the replacement of more than 2000 fluorescent lights with LEDs at community facilities.

“As a City, we’re committed to doing all we can to identify solutions to enable positive and lasting change for both our environment and the lives of all,” says Mayor Kay Fraser (pictured above).

The City’s community are also doing their bit in terms of solar power uptake, with solar panels in Lake Macquarie a common sight. Just in the 2280 postcode, more than 3,205 small-scale systems (<100kW capacity) with a collective capacity of 16,441 kW had been installed as at the end of June this year.