Bins will ‘feel the need’ to be emptied

No it’s not April, but you may think the silly season is upon us all the same.

The council have just told us that they have installed new technology in 300 litter bins which will sense when they are almost full, allowing them to despatch a bin lorry to empty them. (Have you seen any evidence of this? If so send us a photo!)

This data will be passed over a mobile network to council staff who can then work out which bins need attention and when.

The new way of dealing with overflowing litter bins (we can tell you that rubbish is to be highlighted in the Council Leader’s Report next week) – is being tested in the city centre, Leith Walk, Leith Links and Portobello.

The Council Leader Councillor Andrew Burns explained to media this morning that the city is now saving about £1.1m in a year by the amount of recycling that we all do. Apparently 45% of us do recycle although the target is 50% by the end of this administration in March 2017. There is now a reduction of 13,000 tonnes of rubbish going to landfill each year.

There are 26 million collections of waste made by the council each year and the council leader welcomes the 10% reduction in landfill waste for environmental and financial reasons.

If one of the bins with the new sensor fitted goes on fire then that will be detected immediately, perhaps sparking an indication of fly tipping according to the council.

The hopes are that the new technology will optimise collection routes and planning on a daily basis.

Communal bins will also be fitted with the same sensors which might help with some of the scenes we have witnessed of late where bags of rubbish are simply laid to one side of an already overfull bin.

Transport and Environment Convener, Cllr Lesley Hinds, said: “We are learning a lot from this trial which so far has been a success. The sensors are currently in litter bins but if the positive results continue we’d like to see this roll out to communal bins and recycling banks.

“The success of the pilot is attracting a lot of attention from other major cities particularly in the US, where the authorities in Washington DC have contacted us to share our experiences with them.”