The underground bins were unveiled as the first of their kind in 2022
16:48, 11 Jun 2025Updated 16:48, 11 Jun 2025
The underground super bins in Tuebrook have broken down
Householders in one part of Liverpool fear being fined for fly-tipping after £1m “super-bins” broke down. In 2022, as part of a major scheme to clean up some of the city’s urban areas, Liverpool Council introduced a first of its kind programme to install underground bins to serve built up areas.
With more than £12m spent each year on cleaning litter and fly-tipping across the city, a dozen locations were selected for a series of large bins to be put on the street to collect waste. However, a number of the bins serving Silverdale Avenue in Tuebrook have encountered technical problems, leaving them out of action.
Cllr Steve Radford, who serves the area’s Stoneycroft ward, said the bins failing had left piles of “unsightly” rubbish gathering next to the bins while they await maintenance. The Liberal Party leader said some feared putting their household waste out for fear of being ticketed for fly-tipping.
The bins were unveiled to much fan fare almost three years ago in what was described as an underground revolution. The £1.5m scheme was designed to create a cleaner waste solution for 27,000 terraced households, in hundreds of Liverpool’s inner-city streets, which do not have the space to use a wheelie bin.
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 uniquely designed smart bins, which are made of steel or reinforced plastic to reduce odours, will issue an alarm when full and will be emptied with a crane lift via a release mechanism in its base.
It is thought the emptying and re-installation process takes around 10 minutes. The bins on Silverdale Avenue were among the first 12 locations selected to be installed.
A series of bins have been introduced across the city
Cllr Radford said: “As a consequence of this, there’s loads of fly-tipping around the Eurobins on the street. Residents are in a dilemma now that they might be fined if they put any more rubbish in there and get done for fly-tipping.
“They’re full every day now and it’s unsightly for residents. It’s really not satisfactory and a bad design of the scheme if they become blocked quite so easily.”
Liverpool Liberal councillor Steve Radford
A spokesperson for Liverpool Council said: “We are aware of a technical fault affecting two of the four underground bins on Silverdale Avenue. We have reported the fault to the manufacturer and an engineer will be sent out to investigate the issue this week.
“In the meantime, residents can continue to use the other two bins on the street as normal. Our waste collection teams will empty the remaining bins more frequently while the issue is being fixed.
“Our underground bins are also fitted with a sensor which alerts us when they are approaching capacity, which ensures our teams attend as soon as possible to remove the waste. We apologise for any inconvenience.”