BigBelly Solar Helps Make Waste Management Eco-Friendly

Being a recent Brandeis University graduate and long-time Massachusetts resident, I have seen my fair share of BigBelly Solar waste compactors. They’re all over Boston and the Brandeis campus. Throughout my college years, I always wondered what differentiated this barrel from all the others and why it occasionally grumbled. After digging a little deeper, I discovered that the world’s first solar-powered waste compactor is not only cost-effective and sustainable, but it is also designed using SolidWork solutions.

BigBelly Solar waste compactors lower fuel costs and carbon emissions from garbage truck trips by holding five times more litter than non-compacting barrels and requiring less waste collection trips. SolidWorks software facilitated BigBelly Solar’s eco-friendly initiative. With the help of SolidWorks Simulation Xpress and sheet-metal design, BigBelly Solar cut material costs by using 30 percent fewer steel parts. Many busy venues, such as movie theaters, universities, public parks, and shopping districts, also use the BigBelly Solar to keep unwanted pests out of the area.

From the conception to product production, SolidWorks has provided BigBelly Solar with low cost sustainable solutions. Using SolidWorks software, BigBelly Solar streamlined communications using a standardized platform that cut development time and gave the company more control of the product quality and design. Sales for the BigBelly waste compactor skyrocketed, increasing by 300 percent, after redesign in SolidWorks.

You can read more about how SolidWorks cleans up our planet with BigBelly Solar in a case study. So next time you hear a grumbling coming from a BigBelly waste compactor, have no fear, it’s just doing its job making our planet a better place.

Download the case study from our website today.