An army of ‘‘solar powered trash mashers‘‘ - dustbins that compress rubbish - have been installed all over Torbay in Devon.

The ‘‘Big belly bins‘‘ use solar energy to activate a crusher that can reduce the volume of rubbish deposited inside it by up to five times. This cuts down on the number of trips needed by collection vehicles, cutting costs and carbon emissions. Torbay has become the first council to trial the £3,000 US-designed containers, and are hoping to introduce more if they prove useful.