A man discards trash last week in one of the city’s two new ‘Big Belly’ solar-powered trash compactors, located on Main Street near Ashland Avenue and Montana Avenue near 14th Street. The compactors, which cost $4,000 each, were installed recently in high traffic areas where regular trash cans become full quickly, causing garbage to tumble into the gutter, where it may be carried into the Santa Monica Bay. Wes Thompson, City Hall’s solid waste supervisor, said the cans can hold 200 gallons of compacted trash, helping to cut down on the number of trips needed to empty it, which, in turn, protects the environment. “It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” Thompson asked. “It was one of those things where I saw it and I just knew wehad to have it.”