in Barcelona
3 to 5 Nov 2026Belfast City Council has approved an extension of its smart bin deployment across the city, following a pilot in the city centre that delivered major efficiency gains. The trial deployed smart bins made by Big Belly.
During the pilot, one bin at City Hall required only one emptying per day (total ten empties across ten bins) compared with 72 empties for the equivalent number of standard bins; attend-time fell from two hours 24 minutes to about 20 minutes. In the high-footfall area of Donegall Square etc., 26 smart bins required 52 minutes attend-time vs three hours 20 mins for 50 standard bins.
The Council has agreed to install an additional 26 smart units and is exploring deployment into more neighbourhoods and parks. Meanwhile a contract with Safety Solutions NI for bin infrastructure (including maintenance and replacement metal/polyethylene bins) has been in place since May 2024.
No specific investment cost for the Belfast programme has been published; the initial smart-bin trial was installed free of charge by Big Belly for the trial period, including maintenance.
