U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux has apparently run out of things to talk about, so he's bitching about critiquing trash cans.
He's upset about solar-powered trash compactors -- $6,000 "robotic trash cans," as he calls them -- some of which were purchased with federal stimulus cash by the Lynx bus system in the Orlando area.
"You and I wouldn't spend $6,000 on one trash can, but stimulus dollars are being used to buy hundreds of them," LeMieux posted on his website today.
Here's the genius segment from Fox Orlando, which includes LeMieux blaming trash cans on those "liberals in Washington," as well as Moe, Joe, and Mary Schmo saying they've never spent anywhere near $6,000 on a trash can!:
There you have it -- instead of spending the money on whatever LeMieux wants for Lynx's money, they've decided to buy expensive garbage robots.
Well, except for the fact that LeMieux didn't explain that the trash cans are expected to save Lynx $250,000 per year, which would recuperate the investment after two years. After those two years, it's a quarter-million dollars off Lynx's operating costs.
Aside from the environmental benefits of the compactors, the costs associated with trash removal decrease since the garbage men don't have to roll by as often.
Philadelphia saved around $1 million after its first year of using the "$6,000" compactors -- which are reportedly $5,500 -- after buying $2.1 million worth of the units.
Forget saving money; how un-American is buying big, ritzy trash cans?
"We don't need robotic trash cans," LeMieux says. "We need dollars in the pockets of Floridians to spend on their families, invest in their businesses."
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