Bins to burst into song

Rubbish bins in central London are set to sing back to anyone who deposits rubbish in them, congratulating them for waste disposal.

Anyone throwing away garbage will hear a burst of the Hallelujah Chorus, “I’m singing in the bin” or a blast of trombone.

As part of Love Where You Live’s Bin Thinking, 25 talking rubbish bins will soon be installed across Westminster Council with additional bins being trialled in Liverpool.

Additional messages will be adapted to suit each location: Liverpool will have a Beatles Bin while Covent Garden’s bin is operatic.

In addition to talking bins, Love Where You Live also introduces Loop the Litter - which brings the fun of basketball to the litter bin.

The bins will be ready to back chat from October 13th. They’ll remain in London for 2 months, after which time they’ll tour the UK, returning for the Olympic Games. If successful the bins will become a permanent fixture.

The bins are being bought to the streets by Love Where You Live – Keep Britain Tidy’s new initiative which aims to change people’s bad littering behaviour and encourage them to take pride in their local area and do their bit to improve it, strengthening local allegiance in the process.

Westminster Council’s cabinet member for city management, councillor Ed Argar said: “We want to do everything we can to encourage people to dispose of litter correctly when they are out and about in Westminster. We hope that this project will do just that and what is a fun stunt helps draw attention to a very serious issue. It is all of our responsibilities to get rid of our rubbish and do the right thing.”

The project has been produced in partnership with Sing London, the arts organisation who put pianos and ping pong in the streets of London. “We wanted to find a way to make bins enjoyable,” says Colette Hiller, director of Sing London. “This is not a contradiction in terms! Bin Thinking raises awareness through a sense of fun.”