Communal bins could be introduced across Brighton and Hove next month.

Consultants say a trial of the bins has proved so successful it should be rolled out across the city straight away.

The pilot scheme was launched in February when industrial-sized containers replaced individual bins in 24 streets, emptied six times a week.

There was opposition from people worried about mess, loss of parking space and the size of the black skips. But consultants say the city has learned to love the bins.

They have urged the council to pre-empt the end of the 12-month trial and approve a permanent project as soon as next month.

This would mean keeping the trial bins and introducing more across the rest of the city.

Principal consultant Terry March said: "The city council has made a positive, successful approach to the problem of refuse collection services in multi-occupancy areas and this has resulted in clear environmental improvements.

"Most respondents were happy with the communal containers as they felt their quality of life had improved with cleaner streets."

Since the trial started, there had been 71 individual requests for communal bins in other areas.

Environment chairwoman Gill Mitchell welcomed the findings but vowed: "This trial will run for a full year and no new communal bins will be placed in streets until then.

"We're pleased the positive message comes over loud and clear but we want to do a bit more detailed consultation with people."

The council's in-house waste contractor, Cityclean, received 76 complaints about the communal bins from mid-November until February, with just 27 people offering praise.

Since then the balance has shifted, with 89 positive comments up to the end of May and 20 negative.