Underground super bins could come to Brighton and Hove

The “iceberg-like” bins resemble a standard sized street bin on the pavement but can hold around five times the amount of rubbish compared to a large communal bin on the street.

Super bins have already proved successful in European cities like Amsterdam, as well a trial scheme in Liverpool which aimed to keep streets cleaner, tackle fly-tipping and reduce vermin problems.

Brighton and Hove City Council will now be looking into the idea after a notice of motion was filed by Conservative councillor for Wish Ward Robert Nemeth at a meeting on Tuesday.

• READ MORE: What's being done about overflowing bins not emptied for weeks? 

Cllr Nemeth said he was “delighted” to see the proposal taken forward.

He said: “A standard large communal bin in Brighton and Hove has a capacity of 1,100 litres. Most, including even the brand new ones, are covered in graffiti and stickers, and are likely to be broken in some way.

“An underground super bin can have a capacity of 5,000 litres.

"The ugly waste, and smells therefrom, are hidden away. And there is then of course less to vandalise too as the above-ground receptable is much smaller and invariably tougher.

Super bins in Liverpool (Image: Liverpool City Council)

“Liverpool’s super-bin initiative has made the national news recently and has ultimately inspired this notice of motion. Like Brighton and Hove, Liverpool suffers from vandalism and fly-tipping.

“Liverpool Council has taken decisive action to get to grips with the issue, as we should do here.

“It will be interesting to see potential costs as a first step to one day making underground bins a reality.”

The largest type of super bin can hold a week’s worth of rubbish from 20 homes.

What the super bins look like at street level (Image: Liverpool City Council)

The bins are made of steel or reinforced plastic to reduce odours.

People can open the bin using a pedal system and when the bin is full an alarm will sound.

The super bins require bin lorries with a crane-drop mechanism which takes around ten minutes to unload.

The bin is then lowered back into place.

The bins have a pedal system (Image: Liverpool City Council)

Concerns were raised by Green councillors around the cost of the bins and whether the council could afford the scheme.

There were also concerns over being able to dig underground in “our old city because there’s too much there”.

Liverpool City Council are installing the super bins at 12 sites as part of a two-year £1.5 million rollout across the city.

It said this will create a “cleaner waste solution for 27,000 terraced households, in hundreds of inner-city streets, which do not have the space to use a wheelie bin”.

Super bins could reduce the need for on-street communal bins. File picture from Brighton bin strike last October (Image: The Argus)

One of the advantages of the bins is that they only require emptying when full rather than a regular weekly collection.

South Cambridgeshire District Council has also adopted super bins at one of its new housing developments, eliminating the need for around 9,000 wheelie bins.

A council spokesman said: “Our environment, transport and sustainability committee has agreed to a request for officers to look into the possibility of installing underground ‘super bins’ in the city. 

“A report on the subject will be brought to a future meeting of the committee for councillors to consider.”