Tourism is perhaps the major economic driver of Block Island. One of the unfortunate by-products is the amount of garbage and waste produced. New Shoreham battles the onslaught of waste produced by commercial tourism through the use of trash and recycling cans located throughout the town, cans that are serviced by Block Island Recycling Management.BIRM’s owner, Sean McGarry, says in his 30 years working in this capacity, the trash cans in town have always had problems with overflow, requiring frequent emptying. McGarry says the town, which owns the cans, has gone through several different types of receptacles over the years, and has finally found a solution: Bigbelly waste and recycling stations.Each can has a trash compactor inside that allows the can to compact the waste and recycling items, thereby reducing the frequency with which they need to be serviced. When the “smart” cans are full, they send a signal to alert McGarry that they need to be emptied. He reports that the Bigbelly cans are emptied half as oftenas traditional cans. The cans are powered by solar panels on their tops, and sensors inside initiate the compacting feature when the trash reaches a certain level.
The town has
