Fewer bin collection runs thanks to our Solar Press-Shark

The city’s cleaning service used to carry out up to five bin collection rounds a day.on weekends, when locals and tourists flock to Salzburg’s historic old town.
To reduce the workload and minimise the risk posed by service vehicles in the busy alleyways, seven bins have now been strategically positioned in the city centre pedestrian zone. What make them special is that they use solar power to compress the rubbish, which increases their capacity sixfold and significantly reduces the need for collection runs.

Salzburg’s street cleaning service is especially busy during the summer months and at weekends with both residents and tourists flocking to the baroque old town’s main hotspots, including the famous Getreidegasse shopping street.

Not only does this mean more work for the municipal depot staff due to more frequent collection runs, but it also increases the risk potential. department head Herbert Seebauer explains: “Manoeuvring through the crowds on Getreidegasse is challenging enough on a bicycle, let alone with our cleaning vehicles. We therefore opted for the Press-Sharks to reduce the number of collection runs.”

The city of Salzburg had already been working with Littersharks before it decided to install the highly efficient Press-Sharks at key locations around town. “We were using too many different types of bins and were keen to streamline them, so we tested various models. The competing products were either robust but unattractive, or they had a nice design but were not very durable. Littershark combined both advantages and offered us the most practical and long-lasting bins,” says road maintenance manager Christian Bleibler, impressed by their quality.

City Salzburg

The Press-Sharks have significantly reduced accident risk: Cleaning vehicles now pass through the busy Getreidegasse only once a day instead of five times.

The standard Littershark models, which have a capacity of 150 litres, are the most commonly used waste bins in Salzburg’s old town. The Press-Shark’s containers are equipped with solar panels on the top and can hold between 450 and 700 litres, depending on the degree of compression.

If they do fill up earlier, the Littersharks automatically notify the street cleaning team via the Shark Island system, which can monitor the fill level of each bin in real-time from anywhere. Shark Island therefore makes it easy to plan collection rounds and efficiently deploy staff and service vehicles.

Since the Press-Sharks were introduced around three years ago, the road maintenance manager has noticed an increase in waste from take-away containers and empty drinks bottles. On days with lots of visitors, this sometimes calls for an additional collection run between the regular rounds.

“If we didn’t have the Solar Press-Sharks, we would need to empty the bins almost continuously. Tourists eat, drink and inevitably produce waste – it the same for all very busy tourist destinations,” summarised Christian Bleibler. “Here in Salzburg, we always look to find the most suitable solution – and the Littershark ticked all the boxes.”

original report zek

 

“Here in Salzburg, we always look to find the most suitable solution – and the Littershark ticked all the boxes.”

Project and customer facts

  • Bin collection rounds reduced from five to one per day

  • Seven Solar Press-Sharks in use since 2021

  • Efficient deployment of staff and service vehicles thanks to the Shark Island system

Chief Road Master Christian Bleibler

If we didn’t have the Solar Press-Sharks, we would need to empty the bins almost continuously.

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