London's talking trash cans

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It has been dubbed the war on waste – London'stalking trash cans designed to discourage street litter. They sing opera or Abba, say hello, and sometimes even burp. Twenty-five of the specially designed trash cans will be dotted around central London and five in Liverpool from October, Sky News reports. Keep Britain Tidy is running the campaign along with arts organization Sing London, it reports.

Sing London's director, Colette Hiller, told Sky News: 'Its ambition is to actually make people care about the place where they live and we want to do that by using fun as a way to bring the best out in people.' Interactive bins have already had success in parts of Europe. In Sweden a talking bin collected three times more rubbish than a normal one nearby.

Sky News reports:

With more than 30 million tons of litter dropped on Britain's streets each year it is hoped these bins could have the same success here.

Celebrities including Amanda Holden, Phil Tufnell and Michael Palin have volunteered their voices for the project and will soon be recording their own personal messages.

Additional messages will be added to suit different locations, with Liverpool getting a Beatles bin, while Covent Garden's bin is operatic.

The bins head to Birmingham and Manchester next before returning to London in time for the Olympics next year.