National Park Service Serves With Innovation

Originally published on April 22, 2011 in the Yankton Press-Dakotan
Click here for original link. 
by Randy Dockendorf

blogmaster's note: Often, the trashiest places along a river are at the river accesses, where there are often no trash cans for people to use. Many public land managers say that they don't have enough people resources to keep up with trash cans. Overflowing trash cans attract more trash, they say, and then the trash blows all over. Here, the National Park Service has come up with an awesome alternative. 
This article also discusses the upcoming Missouri River Watershed Festival in Yankton, followed by the Missouri River Clean-up. Awesome!

VERMILLION — Steve Mietz talked trash to his audience Thursday at the University of South Dakota.

The National Park Service (NPS) uses the “Big Belly Solar Trash Cans” at selected sites, said Mietz, the Yankton-based superintendent for the Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR).

The system compacts trash in cans along the MNRR, then uses a sensor to notify NPS officials when the cans are full and ready for collection.

“It’s wicked cool,” Mietz said. “There’s a cost to get from our Yankton headquarters to the far reaches of the park to empty trash. This system saves gas, time and personnel.”