News Environment

Rome tackles street trash with new smart bins

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

26 Mar, 2024

Rome installs smart bins on city streets.

Rome has unveiled dozens of new smart bins equipped with an intelligent system that provides data relating to the amount of waste inside the bin and the type of rubbish it receives.

The city has installed 68 of the green next-generation bins in areas of the capital associated with nightlife and high numbers of tourists.

Sensors signal when the bins are almost ready to be emptied, while a solar-powered press compacts the rubbish, reducing the bulk of the waste up to eight times.

The steel bins are hands-free, equipped with a pedal that opens the lid, which the city says makes them easier and more hygienic to use.

They also include a separate section to dispose of cigarette butts.

Oggi presentiamo alla città un’importante innovazione che potrà aiutarci a fare un nuovo passo avanti per aumentare il decoro e la pulizia di #Roma. Si tratta di 68 cestoni “intelligenti” dedicati alle aree della movida e a grande flusso pedonale. Ecco come funzionano. pic.twitter.com/J83MH0tSSW— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) March 25, 2024

Alessandro Filippi, director general of Rome's rubbish collection agency AMA, said the data collected by the new bins will reveal "how long it takes to fill a bin and which ones fill up more and which ones are less used", allowing for a more efficient emptying process and more effective positioning on the street.

The smart bins are currently located in the following areas: Testaccio, Aventino, Trastevere, S. Giovanni, Montagnola and around the historic centre.

Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri also said that the city will start to roll out new street bins - of the ordinary, non-smart variety - from this summer.

Currently there are at least four different types of rubbish bins on the streets of the city centre. This summer the city will begin to install new bins, made of recycled plastic, tripling the current number of street bins from 6,000 to more than 18,000. https://t.co/ME6ZyzmDup pic.twitter.com/btppVfrzJH
— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) March 26, 2024

The city is set to install the new bins, which are designed to look like the older cast-iron cestoni but are made of recycled plastic, tripling the total number of bins on the streets of the capital from the current 6,000 to more than 18,000.

Cover image Viale Aventino, photo Wanted in Rome.