Originally published on August 9, 2013

A council in London is trying out a novel way to reduce the expense of emptying streetside litter bins.

Merton in south west London is trialling the Big Belly bin, which works using solar power generated by solar panels fitted to the top.

The panels generate enough energy to run a trash compactor that crush the refuse when the bin becomes full.

The big belly needs just eight hours of sunlight per month and can collect the same amount of trash as up to eight conventional bins.

The manufacturer of the bins says they can reduce the number of waste collections needed by up to 86 percent.

The bins can also reduce the number of vehicle trips required and fuel used by trash collectors.

Each compactor comes equipped with an electronic monitoring system.

When it is almost full the bin sends a message to a smartphone indicating that it is ready to be emptied.

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