New compactor should solve North Campus’ waste problem

Last semester, The Diner’s garbage cans were piled to the brim and beyond, but even all that trash isn’t a match for The Big Stuff — a new trash compactor officials hope will solve their refuse problems.

The university installed the solar-powered compactor last week and will have it for a yet undetermined time as a free trial, said Greg Thompson, assistant director for maintenance at Dining Services.

Students and the Residence Hall Association complained last semester that trash from Late Night dining was not being collected until 6 a.m. the next day, even though the garbage often spilled out of The Diner’s trash cans overnight.

“I definitely did not want to throw things away or even eat because it was overflowing,” said Spencer Bonar, a sophomore government and politics and neurobiology and physiology major.

Dining Services moved to address the problem after an article on the trash appeared in The Diamondback, Thompson said. Since the new compactor, dubbed “The Big Stuff,” was installed last week, Thompson said he had not seen any overflow outside The Diner. Dining Services had already added trash cans outside The Diner last semester to help cut down on the problem.

“It’s like eight cans of trash compacted into one, so we won’t have that trash blowing over anymore, at least that’s our goal,” Thompson said.

Furthermore, Dining Services may bring in a sustainability expert to help manage the new equipment, especially since the overflow “made a couple different people — including Dining Services — look like we weren’t doing our jobs,” Thompson added. “This is an indication that we’ll listen, and we’re sensitive to those types of issues.”

Sophomore psychology major Cara Morro said she was glad to see the garbage was being handled properly.

“There’s definitely less overflowing trash compared to last semester,” Morro said. “I think it’s good because the trash was pretty gross — it wasn’t pretty. It’s a positive step.”

The new compactor, which operates exclusively on solar energy and is always running, uses a beam that detects the amount of trash to compress it into a smaller product.

cetrone@umdbk.com