Garbage compactor

"Will you shut up and listen to me? Shut down all garbage mashers on the Detention Level, will you? Do you copy?"

- Luke Skywalker, to C-3PO

A garbage compactor, trash compactor, or garbage masher was a metal chamber used to store and compress waste. The walls would come together, compressing and crushing the garbage in the process.

Garbage compactors in the galaxy
When Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca rescued Leia Organa aboard the first Death Star in 0 BBY, they were forced to blast their way into unit 3263827. Since garbage chute sensors identify types of waste and direct them to the right compactor, Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca ended up in recyclable waste owing to their armor and weapons. Once inside, they were unable to leave because the door was magnetically sealed, preventing blaster bolts from penetrating. A dianoga attacked and almost killed Skywalker when it took him underwater. When the creature released Skywalker, the walls began to rumble and edge toward each other, threatening to crush the companions trapped inside the masher. However, they were saved when C-3PO, Skywalker's protocol droid, managed to have all the garbage mashers on the Detention Level shut down.

Thirty-four years later, during the Assault on Starkiller Base, Solo asked Finn, a former First Order stormtrooper who had sanitation duties at the base, if the location happened to have trash compactors. Finn used his knowledge to find one, and they forced their prisoner, Captain Phasma, down the garbage chute.

Appearances

 * A New Dawn
 * Bounty Hunt
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy
 * Star Wars: A New Hope
 * Episode IV: A New Hope Read-Along Storybook and CD
 * Darth Vader 12: Shadows and Secrets, Part VI
 * Doctor Aphra 1: Aphra, Part I
 * Star Wars 31: The Screaming Citadel, Part II
 * Star Wars 36: Revenge of the Astromech
 * Aftermath
 * Star Wars: Uprising
 * Aftermath: Life Debt
 * Aftermath: Empire's End
 * Bloodline
 * "All Creatures Great and Small"
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel
 * The Force Awakens, Part V
 * Captain Phasma, Part I
 * Captain Phasma, Part II
 * Captain Phasma, Part I
 * Captain Phasma, Part II

Non-canon appearances

 * Star Wars Epic Yarns: A New Hope
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens