Compartmentalized refuse container

Abstract

The container comprises two or more tube-like storage modules that are stacked on top of one another and interconnected by a plate-like lid which is removably interposed in the joint between the modules and has male/female joint-forming attachment grooves on the upper and lower sides thereof, which mate with in-turned out-turned flanges on the lower and upper rims of the modules, respectively, to form a joint in which the modules are releasably interlocked against relative movement in the lateral directions thereof. The modules have open-ended bins therewithin, and additional openings in the sides thereof through which a pair of panels are removably insertable to form false bottoms for the bins, or in the alternative, to open the bottoms of the bins for the unloading operation, when the panels are removed from the bins. Further additional openings in the sides of the modules, above the panel receiving openings, serve as entry ports through which refuse can be loaded in the respective bins of the modules, so that two types of refuse can be loaded in the respective bins, with the bottom forming panel of the relatively upper module segregating one bin from the other. Later, when the container is to be unloaded, the two types can be separately unloaded through the top and bottom openings of the stack of modules, and/or through the respective top and/or bottom openings of the respective modules when they have been separated from the lid by relatively lifting one module away from the other. Commonly, the upper module is also equipped with a lid of similar nature, and when there are more than two modules in the stack, this lid may serve in turn as a coupler for the pair of modules above and below it, just as the first mentioned lid served as such.