The Council is likely today to decide to reduce the number of litter bins on our streets by about 20%.
At the same time it has announced that it will follow the lead of other Councils in introducing a new design of “intelligent” litter bin. The bins use solar power to “compact” waste and are capable of sending an “empty me” Email when they are full.

The Council is right to trial technology like this.

However, they are talking of putting them in the City centre and removing 5 of the old style bins at the same time. This they think will reduce both emptying costs and the street clutter which some find intrusive in the historic core.

There is a limit to how far some people will walk to use a litter bin and a well dispersed network of bins is the best way of ensuring that street litter does not ruin the environment.

The decision to reduce the amount of litter picking by barrowmen in residential areas is another example of short sighted thinking.

Whether the Council will adopt the type of bin which segregates recyclable waste (bottles, cans, papers etc) remains to be seen. The 3 bin suite is larger than anything we have had in the city before but Labour were insistent that we should offer the recycling option when they were in opposition, so we will have to wait and see whether they are consistent now that they are making the decisions.

The key question though for “dusty bin” is whether it proves to be reliable and whether the extra costs can be justified.