Flushing BID Employs ‘Big Bellies’To Clean Up Streets

The Flushing Business Improvement District (BID) officially kicked off their anti-littering campaign last week with the arrival of 10 new “Big Belly” solar trash compactors in downtown Flushing.
The BID is the first in the city to receive and deploy the trash compactors on the sidewalks as part of a collaborative pilot project with the Borough President, Clean Air Communities, and BIDs throughout the borough.
“I’d like to thank the leadership of the BID in keeping focused and efficient and forever innovative in our goals, and especially the Seahorse Power Company for their painstaking time and dedication in bringing us these beautiful new machines,” said Mabel Law, executive director of the BID. “We hope that people will use them as they come to Flushing to take the train or bus, or to shop, or to use the library or the bank, and thank everyone for helping us make Flushing a destination of choice for everyone from throughout the region.”
Volunteers from Councilman John Liu’s Youth Action Team were on hand and armed with hand-made posters with positive messages of “Keep Flushing Clean” in celebration of the arrival of the new trash compactors.
team leaders Stephen Ma and Susana Kim helped send a message to their peers and passersby to use the Big Bellies for pedestrian trash only and not for household or commercial trash. They even provided a demonstration on how to use the machines properly.
The “Big Belly” trash compactors hold six times the amount of trash than a standard trash can. These would help further eliminate the overflowing of trash and reduce the number of collected trash bags on the sidewalk.
In addition to the Seahorse Power Company, the Department of Small Business Services, Department of Sanitation, Department of Transportation and the 109th Precinct also cooperated in this new pilot program.
toni@queenscourier.com