Meet Mr. Big Belly

Stuck with a handgun that's been used in one too many robberies and has your prints on it? In a hurry to dump that stash? Was the kid born dead, but no one would believe you if you told them?

Then have we got an answer for you-Big Belly, New York's new hi-tech trashcan!

Those old corner trashcans were a mess, weren't they? The garbage just piled up and spilled onto the sidewalk. Worse, they were no good at all when it came to ditching evidence. Since the sanitation department only emptied them twice a week, chances were good the 9mm you tossed in there last weekend is still there, just waiting for cops to find it. And what if the baby you dumped in there Tuesday night starts crying? Somebody's gonna pick it up, and they're gonna trace it straight back to you.

That's where Big Belly comes to the rescue!

The City's experimenting with a new kind of trashcan it hopes might keep New York sidewalks cleaner. More than that, Big Belly is custom-designed to help you out of a jam. It's mailbox-like opening not only makes it harder for squirrels and rats to get at the garbage-it makes it harder for do-gooder bystanders as well! Plus, it's solar powered!

Why would a garbage can be solar powered? We're glad you asked-because that's what makes Big Belly your new best friend!

It's been specially designed to sense when it's almost full, and when it is, what does Big Belly do? It turns into a trash compactor!

Yes, a trash compactor. No more worries about that incriminating note getting blown out of the trashcan and discovered. Forget all about the cops finding that baggie you dropped. Now you can relax. Not only does Big Belly crush everything into a tiny cube once it's full, but then it takes more trash on top of that, allowing it to hold eight times as much incriminating evidence as most normal trashcans!

Drugs? Gone!

Stolen goods? Unrecognizable!

Unwanted infants? Don't even ask!

Sound too good to be true? It's not! It's clean, it's environmentally friendly, and it's here today!

Big Belly-now appearing at Chambers and Church Sts.-and coming soon to a neighborhood sidewalk near you!

-Jim Knipfel