Are Solar Bins Possum Killers?

Wildlife welfare concerns have been raised over a potential trial of solar powered compacting bins by New South Wales’ Blue Mountains City Council.

Solar bins have been popping up in a number of Council areas across Australia, with the BigBelly bin appearing to be the most popular.

The top of the BigBelly has a solar panel protected by a polycarbonate cover that charges a battery powering a compactor situated inside the bin. When rubbish reaches a certain level, sensors in the bin trigger the compaction.

The manufacturers of the BigBelly state the bin is able to collect 5 times the volume of waste as a standard bin of the same capacity. The bin owner/operator can monitor waste levels remotely and receive text alerts from the bin when it is approaching full. The system cuts down on the volume of waste going to landfill and reduces the number of collection trips, saving time, money and emissions.

The bins have been in use in Australia for some years and generally speaking seemed to have been working out pretty well. However, here on SQ we’ve heard from someone who said he was involved with emptying solar bins in Port Stephens and found them to be hard to work with. People dumping half-full milkshakes and bags of dog poop in the bins also created situations described as “not good”. Apparently, Council stopped using them.

Earlier this month we also reported on a situation in Lorne, Victoria where the operation of a couple of bins was thwarted by pizza boxes that were thoughtlessly wedged in the hoppers. It resulted in a mess, but the local cockatoos seemed to be pretty happy with the situation.

Solar Bins And Wildlife

But there’s been concern the bins could also pose a threat to wildlife, specifically possums.

At a meeting of Blue Mountains City Council last night, a notice of motion was tabled by Cr. Kerry Brown for a report to be prepared detailing the feasibility of installing solar powered compactor bins across townships in Council’s area.

“As a City within a World Heritage Area promoted as an eco-tourism destination, it is important that the Blue Mountains is visibly active in its sustainability efforts,” states the notice.

It wouldn’t be such a great thing if a sustainability action started taking out local wildlife.

The Business Paper for last night’s meeting noted that Scenic World in Katoomba has the bins installed and that the bins are not accessible to birds.

But what about possums?

The Blue Mountains Gazette reports a former Scenic World employee claims when the bins were first installed about four years ago:

“the rides staff would empty a possum, crushed by the compactor, from a bin every day for a couple of weeks.”

The possums had reportedly jumped on the handle on the cover of the bins’ chutes and wound up inside to meet a rather gruesome fate. The former employee claimed subsequent modifications to the bins were unsuccessful and the compactors subsequently disabled.

However, Scenic World reportedly states there was only one incident involving a single possum soon after the bins were installed. Scenic World said it immediately made minor modifications including the use of a stronger spring and adjusted handle to address the threat and no possums have ended up in the bins since (more than 4 years). The compactors in some of the bins remain disabled.

The loss of a possum is unfortunate, but the deaths of around 14 as claimed would be a really bad look for Scenic World given its strong sustainability focus. However, it’s not clear yet which party is .. mistaken – but the situation is on Council’s radar for further investigation and will play a role in a decision whether to proceed.

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UPDATE: February 4, 2021 – I spoke with Louise from Scenic World today who provided me an update on this situation. It turns out the person who made the claim about multiple possum deaths and who also claimed to be a former Scenic World employee was never employed there. Louise told me Blue Mountains Gazette has acknowledged this in a clarification that was printed this week, and the online article referenced above is no longer accessible.

Scenic World have confirmed there was a single incident where a possum was caught in a compactor bin in the rainforest soon after it was installed around four years ago. As mentioned above, that compactor was immediately disabled, design modifications made as a safety precaution and no possums have been harmed since. It notes the bins were sourced from a US supplier as a wildlife-proof solution, so wildlife welfare was in mind when they were purchased.

Scenic World has offered to discuss the safe and sustainable roll out of solar compacting bins with Blue Mountains City Council, including the minor design modifications made.

Scenic World says it makes every effort to protect local wildlife, including working closely with the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute (BMWHI) as the flagship partner of its philanthropic program. Scenic World staff are also actively involved in a BMWHI wildlife monitoring program on site to help inform future research.

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On a related note, Blue Mountains City Council’s tinkering with solar goes well beyond bins. We reported last week Council says its combined total of 289kW of solar power capacity installed across five sites are making great environmental and financial sense.