First 12 locations for Liverpool’s new underground super-bins revealed

The council have announced the first 12 streets in Liverpool to be fitted with new subterranean super-bins.

In June of this year, the authority revealed the plans, aiming to tackle the city’s refuse problem and dramatically improve the environment.

The scheme aims to replace temporary communal bins, in 140 locations across the region, targeting 27,000 households who do not have space for an outdoor wheelie bin.

Littering complaints are common across Liverpool and the scheme aims to improve the happiness of local residents and reduce costs to the council, with the local authority spending £9.5m on cleaning up litter annually.

Where will the bins be?

The first twelve locations for the underground bins are as follows:

Hayfield Street, Walton

Empress Road, Kensington

Leopold Road, Kensington

Saxony Road, Kensington

Battenberg Road, Kensington

Arundel Street, Walton

Maria Road, Walton

Selina Road, Walton

Toft Street, Kensington

Moss Grove, Toxteth

Silverdale Avenue, Tuebrook

How do they work?

The super-bins come in a variety of sizes, the biggest being able to take up to 5,000 litres of waste, the equivalent to a week’s worth of refuse for 20 houses.

The underground system prevents a build up of litter and overflowing bins, removing problems such as rodents and bad smells.

A sensor notifies the council when a bin is full and a specialist lorry is sent to lift the container out of the ground with a hoist and empty it - the emptying and re-installation process should take less than 10 minutes.

The bins will be fully accessible to those with limited strength, or mobility, some operated with foot pedals, others with ground-level mechanisms. None of the bins will be operated by hand, a feature that also prevents the spreading of germs.

What has been said?

Joanne Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, who is also the political lead for Waste Management in the City Region, said: “I want Liverpool to be a zero-waste city and to achieve that we need to be smarter in how we enable people to dispose of what they generate in their homes.

“These subterranean super-bins are going to make a huge difference to the quality of life for thousands of families across huge swathes of our inner-city neighbourhoods.

“We need to consult with communities on the locations but when installed these bins will have both an immediate and dramatic impact on the cleanliness of our streets and will save the council a huge amount of time and money for many years to come. They are an environmental and economic win-win.”

The first 12 locations are expected to see the benefits of the £1.5m super-bin scheme by the end of Summer.