Smart bin sensors

As part of our work to become a Smart City, we’ve installed 11,000 smart sensors in a range of communal and litter bins. This project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Zero Waste Scotland. Read our Digital and Smart City strategy. We delivered three projects budgeted at £6.4m, of which £2.5m is part of the ERDF grant.

Smart bin sensors are helping us keep a track of

  • if a bin is full
  • when they’re emptied
  • how often they’re used.

This is helping make our neighbourhoods nicer places to live and protect our environment from litter. We're using this data to

  • create more efficient waste collection routes, helping us save fuel and allowing us to divert resources to other places
  • respond to full or overflowing bins more quickly.

In communal bins, sensors will be fixed to the inside of lids and are in a small grey box. In litter bins, sensors will be fixed to the back of the bin.