Trash cans fill up too quickley, and a full trash can means taking out the garbage. Instead of proposing some sort of robot that takes out garbage (or some genetically modified man-drone), I propose a standard cyclindrical trash can with a few 'minor' modifications.
As we have all realized, a lot of the volume in our garbage bags is taken up by air in the packaging containers we throw away. Not to mention the space between things that don't fit together nicely. To eliminate this I propose these modifications.
The Garbage receptical should be equipped with a shreddder(an electrified high rpm motor with fan cutting blades) and a special top with two lids. The first opening allows access to the unit. The user, after opening the first lid, places his garbage on top of the second. After closing the first lid he presses a botton or lever starting the fun.
The button or lever flips the second lid open and the trash falls into the unit, passing through the fanblades(which were turned on when the first lid was opened). The shredded garbage falls to the bottom of the receptical where it will maximize the total capacity of the can.-- ImBack, Jan 20 2003 Jumping up and down on garbage in a trashcan works,but i won't try it on this one.-- skinflaps, Jan 20 2003 Yah... sorry, the deletion was unintentional. I was trying to click your name. In any case, I don't think what is illustrated in the link is necessarily what I have in mind. It looks too big and industrial. i wan't more of a standard trash can with a big fan blade.-- ImBack, Jan 20 2003 Trash compacting is old. Trash shredding? Dunno. Do people use wood chippers to puree their trash?-- snarfyguy, Jan 20 2003 Garden waste shredders can do this but tend to jam up. Even the big ones (3 kW and up) can struggle with steel food cans.
I incinerate as much domestic waste as I can, which not only provides useful space heating but also dramatically diminishes the volume that goes to landfill.
The idea is sound but I suspect it is at least partially Baked and I would prefer to see designs that promote separation of materials and recycling so my vote is neutral on this one.-- 8th of 7, Jan 21 2003 Separation of the materials will be very easy due to the fact that everything is shredded. A magnet will remove the metals, bacteria will dissolve all of the organic materials like leftover food and bones, and a complex wet straining process will separate the paper from the plastic.-- Jscotty, Nov 04 2005 " hey joe" - "what?" - "think I dropped my keys in the garbage, and as you know I'm claustrophobic, so can you climb in and get them for me" - "No problem.....-- xenzag, Nov 04 2005 Spinning blades - loads of fun but so many things can go wrong. Why not have a can with a pump at the bottom allowing you to generate a vacuum within? This would serve the same purpose, and would be less likely to kill people, or more importantly, break.-- bungston, Nov 04 2005 I'm guessing you are recycling all this stuff. Right?..right?-- etherman, Nov 04 2005 random, halfbakery