Yellowknife (Jun 28/06) - A solar-powered, garbage-compacting trash can is catching the eyes of Franklin Avenue pedestrians.

And the new BigBelly trash can's owners want the City of Yellowknife looking at the unit too.

"Where else would you see people checking out a garbage can," said Chris Hunt, co-owner of ActionView North, the distributor of the futuristic, big, green, waste receptacle.

Jim Eirikson, left and Chris Hunt, co-owners of ActionView North stand alongside the solar-powered BigBelly trash can on Franklin Ave. The company is hoping the City of Yellowknife will consider buying a number of solar-powered units to operate an internal trash compactor. - David Ryan/NNSL photo

The BigBelly has a solar panel that provides all the power needed for the internal trash compactor said ActionView's other owner, Jim Eirikson. With a capacity of 750 litres of trash, the internal trash compactor exerts 800 kilograms of pressure on the garbage said Hunt.

"It lets you know automatically when the garbage needs to be changed," said Hunt explaining that it can alert garbage disposers by e-mail.

Even with a price tag of almost $6,000 per unit, Hunt is confident that there is a market for the product.

"It can save labour and time," said Hunt.

The City of Yellowknife assisted in installing the BigBelly on the corner of 50th Ave. and 50th St. said Andrew Morton, facilities manager for the City of Yellowknife.

City staff will empty the trash can when needed and monitor the compactor to see if money and time can be saved said Morton.

"We want to see how well it works. If we can spend less time on garbage removal and free up workers' time for other projects, that's a big benefit," said Morton.

No funding has been allocated in the 2006 budget for the purchase of trash cans added Morton. ActionView North also hopes there is potential in the commercial sector for sales of the BigBelly.

"They could be used in apartment buildings and maybe even mine sites," he said. The company will use Yellowknife as a launching point for its product and hopes to expand throughout the NWT. As well as holding distribution rights in the territories, ActionView North also has distribution rights in Alberta.

"We think there is quite a market for them," said Eirikson.