The invention also concerns a waste container with a plunger fitted in the lid for compressing the waste.

The compaction of wet and dry waste is currently becoming a fundamental issue for waste disposal.

For instance, several Local Authorities have established economic sanctions for people who discard any waste, e. g. plastic bottles, in the dry waste bins without having squashed them first.

The problem of the volume of solid urban waste is clearly an important issue and that is why regulations and incentives are being used to convice householders to take steps to restrict the volume of solid urban waste to a minimum.

This is because the normal waste collection bins cannot be made larger and larger, and also because the cost of transporting the waste from the collection points to the sorting and treatment stations has a strong influence on the global cost of waste treatment.

Clearly, therefore, it is becoming increasingly important for users producing solid urban waste to take action to contain the volume of the waste right from the start.

Compacting the waste is also advantageous to users, in that it means a saving on the plastic bags and a reduction in the number of times these bags have be taken to the collection point.

The objective of the present invention is to facilitate the compacting of wet and dry waste, so as to optimize the volume of waste inside the bag used for its collection.

Another objective is to provide a straightforward and inexpensive waste compacting tool.

A further objective of the invention is for the compacting tool to be suitable for anyone to use and consequently for it to be straightforward to handle and easy to use.

The above objectives, and others that will be better illustrated below, are achieved by a plunger suitable for compressing the waste contained inside a

waste container that, according to the first claim, is characterized in that it comprises: - a compression member whose surface rests on top of the waste to be compacted, said compression member having a circumference slightly narrower than the cross section of the container holding the waste; - an operating rod for moving said compression member, arranged essentially perpendicular to said compression member, one end of which is connected to said compression member, while the other end terminates with - a handle suitable for being grasped by the operator.

Preferably, but not necessarily, the plunger object of the invention is associated with the lid of the waste container.

In this type of embodiment, the operating rod is associated with the compression member by means of a hinge, so that said rod can be tilted in relation to the surface of the lid in order to avoid taking up too much space.

Further characteristics and particular features of the invention will be better illustrated in the description of two preferred embodiments of the invention, provided as an illustrative but not restrictive example, and shown in the attached drawings, wherein : - Figure 1 shows an example of an embodiment of the invention; - Figure 2 shows a waste container fitted with the plunger object of the invention ; -Figure 3 shows the container of Figure 2 in the open position ; - Figure 4 shows a cross section of the container of Figure 2 with the plunger ready for manual operation; - Figure 5 shows a cross section of the container of Figure 4 with the plunger in the compacting position; - Figure 6 shows a different embodiment of the container with the plunger object of the invention.

Referring to the above figures, and to Figure 1 in particular, we can see that the plunger for compacting waste, indicated as a whole by 1, is constituted by a compression member, indicated as a whole by 2, which comprises an essentially flat surface 21 that is delimited by a ring-shaped rim 22 which, in the case of the example, has essentially a truncated-cone cross section.

The surface 21 is circular in shape and has a hinge 3 in the middle, to which

an operating rod 4 is attached, with a handle 5 at the other end.

As we can see from Figure 1, this operating rod 4 can easily be arranged in vertical position, so that the plunger 1 can be used as a means for compacting the content of any given waste container.

In this case, the plunger 1 is separate from the waste container and can consequently be used, as necessary, in association with any receptacle, provided that the dimensions of the compression member 2 are compatible, i. e. slightly smaller than the dimensions of the receptacle.

In this type of embodiment, since the plunger is separate from the container in which it is used, the operating rod will predictably be without any hinge and will consequently be fixed perpendicular to the surface of the compression member.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the plunger of the invention is connected to the lid of a waste container, as illustrated in figures from 2 to 6.

To be more specific, Figure 2 shows a container, indicated as a whole by 10, with a lid 11 associated with the operating rod 14, complete with the handle 15, of a plunger indicated as a whole by 12 in Figure 4 and complete with a compression member 13.

Referring again to Figure 4, we can see that the lid 11 of the container 10 has a hole 110 in the middle, through which the operating rod 14 can slide.

The compression member 13 is complete with a ring-shaped rim having a truncated-cone cross section 131.

The operating rod 14 has a hinge 141 that enables the rod to be tilted into an essentially horizontal position, as illustrated in Figure 2, so as to avoid taking up space above the lid.

The lid 11 is complete with means for retaining the rod 14 that, in the case of the example in Figure 2, comprises two grooves 16 and 17 obtained during the moulding of the lid 11, that is advantageously made of a plastic material, like the rest of the container 10.

The size of the grooves 16 and 17 is such that the rod 14 can be pushed into the grooves with the aid of a slight manual pressure and thus remain locked in this position.

The fact that there are two grooves 16 and 17 on either side of the hole enables users to lock the rod 14 in whichever position they find easier to adopt.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the operation of the plunger object of the invention associated with the lid 11 on the container 10.

Clearly, after bringing the operating rod into a vertical position, the user can easily push the rod, and consequently also the compression member 13, downwards, to compact the waste contained in the bag 20 and thereby reduce its volume.

Naturally, the greatest benefit from using the plunger inside a waste container is obtained when the bag of waste 20 contains the so-called"dry"type of waste, i. e. plastic packaging materials and the like, that are easy to squeeze and thereby to reduce in volume.

Figure 6 shows a receptacle with a parallelepiped instead of a cylindrical shape, indicated as a whole by 30.

Obviously, the compression member 32 on the plunger associated with the lid 31 will have a shape compatible with the cross section of the container 30.

This shape will advantageously be essentially rectangular instead of circular.

The rim 33 will advantageously have a truncated-pyramid shape.

Naturally, the shape and size of the plunger can be conveniently adjusted without departing from the innovative concept and scope of this invention.

The plunger can be made entirely of plastic, or it can be made of metal, such as aluminium or any other metal suited to ensure that the compression member, in particular, will be strong enough to exert the necessary pressure on the waste without becoming deformed.