Will New Window-Level Bins Solve Motorway Littering?

HGV drivers are being encouraged to bin their rubbish with the installation of window height bins at a motorway service station. The bins have been installed at the M6 Lymm services, and are the latest measure being taken to try and keep the motorways clear of rubbish thrown from cars and lorries. There are two types of window height bins at the M6 Lymm services now – one for car drivers and one for HGV drivers, with the key difference being their height from the ground.

Cars can use the bin which is 1.85m high and has a capacity of 80 litres, while HGV drivers can use a 2.2m high bin with a 120 litre capacity. It’s hoped that disposing of rubbish without needing to get out of their vehicles will mean drivers are less likely to throw their rubbish onto the motorway or the side of the road. Rubbish thrown onto the motorway while driving can even cause accidents if it impairs another driver’s vision by hitting their windshield or causes a distraction if large items fly out into the road.

Aside from the danger to drivers, it’s also unsightly, and causes problems for wildlife, particularly in some of the more rural areas close to motorways. In addition to the first set of bins at Lymm services, similar bins are planned around the North West at a further 25 service stations, and could become standard at all service stations very soon. The bins are the results of a 10-week trial in Winchester, where they were installed at services on the M3 to see whether they could be a solution to littering at services and on motorways around the country.

In the North West alone, 40,000 sacks of litter were picked up last year. For every mile of motorway in the area, that’s the equivalent of 108 sacks each. HGV drivers are often criticised for littering, with drivers doing long journeys and living out of their cabs sometimes developing less than perfect habits when it comes to litter and cleaning up after themselves. Whether these kinds of bins will solve the problem is yet to be seen, and critics say it could go either way, actually encouraging drivers to throw rubbish out of their windows rather than bin them. Would you use these bins? Let us know what you think of them and whether they’ll solve the litter problem on our roads.