There are some people who seem to treat their car as a garbage can on wheels. (My boyfriend does this and it really grosses me out.) I really hate having to get into someone else's car when it's full of garbage... leftover fast food wrapers, empty soda bottles, newspapers, old reciepts, etc.
So for those of you who don't like cleaning out your car, you could use a car trash compactor! It would be a small device you could place where you are most likely to throw garbage, say in the back seat or the passenger seat floor. It would also be portable so you could switch it's location in the car when you have passengers. There would be an opening in the top for the garbage to go in, and it would be placed in such a way that it is easier to get the garbage in there than to throw it on the floor. Once the garbage was inside, a battery powered mechanism would crush the garbage. That way you could fit A LOT of garbage in a very small space.
When the compactor is reaching full, a dashboard light would come on letting you know it's time to empty the compactor. This light would actually come on about a week before the compactor really needs emptying due to the procrastinating nature of the people who would benefit from using such a device.-- Aurora, Jul 30 2002 Get a new boyfriend.-- DrCurry, Jul 30 2002 Hmm.. pay for compactor, or just throw it out the window?
Compactor provides fuel for incinerator, which generates heat for the steam powered engine which drives the car?-- Mr Burns, Jul 30 2002 Throw it out the window!!!
Aaaaaa!!! No don't do that! You sure know how to freak out an environmentalist!-- Aurora, Jul 30 2002 Yes, throw it out the window. That's what community service work programs and adopt-a-highways are for. And people call me a tree hugging hippie...-- Mr Burns, Jul 30 2002 do they?
put that tree down, you are practically strangers. tut, the youth of today.-- po, Jul 30 2002 Does it eat white trash too?-- FarmerJohn, Jul 30 2002 (farmer john) Only if they're small enough to fit in the opening I guess...
(thcgenius) What's wrong with being a tree hugging hippie? *hides tree behind back*-- Aurora, Jul 30 2002 Aurora: There's nothing at all wrong with it. I'm not a litterbug by any means, I just think that making extra work for the roadside felon cleanup crew is hilarious! Consider it job security.
FJ: I think that's considered murder.. although it would be a convenient way to dispose of the body. Easier than throwing it out the window, I suppose.-- Mr Burns, Jul 30 2002 //Throw it out the window// I had no idea you were a Messican. Watching roadside crews woik is not my idea of a good time while being stuck on a freeway which has been reduced from 5 to 2 lanes to make room for felons and their supervisors doing Pope imitations - read: apparently napping/barely perceptible movement/leaning on a shovel. Use your electric window to crush cans - trust me, you'll cause jealousy.-- thumbwax, Jul 31 2002 This should be built into the dash, or maybe the console. Perhaps a small push-in door.
Great idea. Trash disposal in cars has always been a pain in the ass. Those little bags that you get from AAA are useless.-- waugsqueke, Jul 31 2002 Yeah, you don't wanna be launching into the car trash compactor.-- waugsqueke, Jul 31 2002 There is already a portable trash compactor for vehicles invented. Go to www.trasheliminator.com-- johnimp1, May 12 2006 [johnimp1] ...It might not have been invented yet when this idea was originally posted about 4 years ago.
I think it should be powered by pugging it into the cigarette lighter, instead of having a big heavy battery. I don't know about the "dashbord light" since its supposed to be portable, why not just have the light on the top of it by the switch or whatever?-- BJS, May 12 2006 I believe the product is patented and will probably be in stores .-- johnimp1, May 13 2006 I e-mailed the inventor and he told me that it can be powered by the cigarette lighter or solar power too.-- johnimp1, May 13 2006 I have the utility patent on the auto trash compactor since 2004. Patent#US 6,676,362 B1. I got this patent in January 2004. It has the potential of becoming a great success. I have brochures, a book, I used to have a website. If anyone is interested in this idea, please contact me at ppickering1@gmail.com. thanks for your time!-- Ppickering1, Sep 05 2014 It has been in the expo show in Pittsburgh, PA 2 years. I had kids and couldn't afford to do anything else with it. I have a lot of money invested in it, with newer designs to build it even better, just no place to do it. It wouldn't even cost a lot. I could make you famous!-- Ppickering1, Sep 05 2014 [Ppickering1], if your life's work turns up as a Halfbakery invention, that is not necessarily an entirely good sign.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2014 random, halfbakery