Croydon will be relying on the sun to help tackle litter in the town centre.

The council has started trialling eight solar-powered bins in George Street that can take up to eight times the capacity of standard street bins.

The hi-tech bins gain the extra capacity with a compactor inside each one that automatically presses the waste.

They even send an email alert when they need to be emptied and gather data on which bins are used the most so staff know where to place new bins.

The bins have been placed between East Croydon station and the junction with Wellesley Road for four weeks, and the trial will continue when the council introduces the bins to Croydon High Street for a similar period early in the New Year.

Cllr Stuart Collins, deputy leader of Clean Green Croydon, said: “It’s everyone’s responsibility to stop leaving rubbish on Croydon’s streets, and we’re trialling these smarter bins and widening our successful scheme to tackle shopfront fly-tipping to help more people do the right thing.

“These bigger solar-powered bins also allow our council contractors to do even more litter-picking and street-sweeping in the places needing it most, and I look forward to seeing the trial results in January.”