Solar-powered trash compactor in front of an apartment building at the Frederiksen Court Apartments, Ames, Iowa, Nov. 18, 2024.

Iowa State’s environmentally friendly solar compactor trash cans now have QR codes students can scan to notify when they are full.

Steven Kohtz, recycling services and special events coordinator, said Student Government purchased a large import of solar compactors in 2018 and their subscription expired.

“It is a large amount of money to secure that, so it’s a challenge right now,” Kohtz said. “We weren’t ready for that, and so what we are working on doing is transitioning things currently.”

Martin Hursh, president of Student Government and a junior in economics, said the software costs $12,000 a year and $35,000 for circuit board updates.

The solution they have added to the trash cans is a QR code that people can scan.

“It’s an anonymous informational thing, so they simply use their QR or their phone to read it, send in that QR code that automatically comes to myself, campus services director and then the campus services manager,” Kohtz said. “We then will then send out a technician within 24 to 48 hours to take care of that specific need. They are continuing to do their regular schedule as well, but the ones that are red flagged with the QR code are quickly taken care of and done that way.”

Merry Rankin, director of sustainability, said it’s not just a software thing, it’s a hardware piece as well.

“We see it happen in computers,” Rankin said. “It happens in various things where the company will come out with a new update. While there are a number of solar compactors that Student Government had assisted in purchasing, it also impacts the entirety of our fleet as well. So to get that whole campus connection, it’s a major lift in a major undertaking.”

Hursh said they are going to see how the QR codes work and if they are an effective means to notify when they are full.

“The worst thing that can happen, the thing that we all don’t want to have happen, Student Government and the university, is that garbage cans are overflowing,” Hursh said. “That would be awful, because then that actually creates littering on our beautiful campus, and no one wants to see that happen.”

Furthermore, Hursh said that the Senate is committed to sustainability on campus.

“We have two co-directors that have done great work regarding sustainability, not just at Iowa State University, but also the Ames community,” Hursh said. “We just had a garbage pickup where we picked up over 20 bags of garbage in the Greek triangle. And so we’re very committed to sustainability in student government, and we want to make sure that we have a beautiful campus.”

Rankin said the QR code option is working very well.

“I think it’s a great solution to still allow that seamless service from the user standpoint until everything gets put into place,” Rankin said.

Kohtz said they didn’t even have to introduce the QR codes, they started working right away and he had an instant call back.

“It was super exciting to see that, students, faculty and staff,” Kohtz said. “I know that it’s a frustrating thing to walk up to a big belly and see that it’s packed full, and to have that opportunity and that ownership of claiming that it’s full and helping us do that, I think it’s a super experience and a great way for everyone to be tied into it.”

According to Kohtz, the most newly purchased compactors are currently still communicating but the majority have QR codes right now.

Rankin said the intent is to have them all communicating again but it’s a process to get it back into place. 

“We have to be mindful of budgets from year to year, how that goes into place, but certainly the intent and the focus is with eventually having everything back up, but at this point, we don’t know when that might happen,” Rankin said.

According to Kohtz, there are a total of 130 solar compactors all over campus.

Kohtz said that the reason they use these compactors is because they are environmentally sound.

“It keeps the rodents from getting in and having a picnic overnight,” Kohtz said. “It keeps the weather from getting in and everything getting soggy and wet. It not only compacts and gets 24/7 gallon waste bins inside of that.”

Kohtz said he is appreciative and grateful for those reports.

“If you would send our gratitude to the students, faculty and staff for reporting and being part of this opportunity, is a great thing as well,” Kohtz said.

Rankin said it’s fun for students to bring solutions for a real time challenge.

“It’s sort of this campus connection and the entire community working together, kind of like the living lab experience you oftentimes hear about of finding solutions for real time challenges and immediate challenges,” Rankin said. “So that’s a great part of I think this story.”

Nick Michel, a member of the sustainability committee and sophomore in landscape architecture, came up with the QR code idea.

“I saw that a lot of the bins were overflowing, and there was no way to really report them officially,” Michel said. “And so as a committee member on the sustainability committee, I’ve talked to Steve Kohtz and I’ve talked to Merry Rankin, and so I can email them and text them very like easily. So whenever I would see a full trash bin. I would go and text Merry and say, ‘Hey, like, here’s the end of the week summary.’”

Michel said he mentioned the idea to Rankin in May and a couple of months later, Kohtz reached out to him about it outside of the sustainability committee due to it being outside of school hours in the summer.

“I had mentioned it to Steve, knowing that most likely I will continue being a member of sustainability committee, and I will continue to work on sustainability efforts, whether or not I am on the committee, but I mentioned it to him outside of the committee, more as a person, but really I would say Student Government gets that effort, get that credit as well,” Michel said. 

“Because if there was funding needed, more than likely, Student Government would be able to do that, because I did continue with sustainability committee.”

Michel and Kohtz both said the QR codes have been successful. 

“We’re having great success with the QR codes,” Michel said. “It doesn’t take a whole crowd. It doesn’t take a lot of people to scan one QR code, and they’re getting a lot of scans. I haven’t seen a whole lot of full trash cans.”

Michel said he tried to get a wide variety of opinions on the QR codes. 

“It is exciting to know that I was able to do some sort of change here on campus, because that is what I enjoy doing, creating change,” Michel said.