When two cities say something’s too good to be true, then I get skeptical. The N&R writes up the solar-powered Big Belly trash cans along the downtown greenway. Action Greensboro raised the 5k per can, but the city has the privilege of owning and maintaining them.

The City of Raleigh claims huge savings with it Big Belly cans, while the N&R reports “officials in Philadelphia said they have saved about $1 million a year in manpower and other trash collection costs since switching to the cans, according to news reports.”

Evidently they didn’t read this news report:

The controller had not quantified the actual dollars involved, since estimates haven’t taken into account maintenance, repairs and the learning curve for Streets Department employees.

“Because of the complexity of these units and the lack of training for Streets Department personnel, additional time and a second Streets Department employee was required to empty these compactors and replace their internal trash bags,” Butkovitz said.

The solar compactors cost $3,700 each, as opposed to $100 for the familiar wire trash cans.

Or this one:

The controller also found routine maintenance costs weren’t factored into the Streets Department’s cost estimates and questioned the BigBelly’s 10-year life span as advertised by the manufacturer. The controller concluded that no one in the Streets Department had the knowledge or tools necessary to regularly service BigBellys and that the compactors were not purchased through a competitive bidding process.

Last but not least, some people find them “utterly disgusting,” which ironic considering the fact that they’re designed to save the Earth.