Coming soon to Singapore: A high-tech bin that costs a whopping US$40,000

If you’re in London for the Olympics, you might have seen an army of these intriguing devices inhabiting the streets of the city central.

These are high-tech recycling bins that put their dull ancestors to shame: They’re bomb-proof, Internet-enabled, and environmentally friendly. And they come with two digital screens that broadcasts news, stock updates, and anything you can dream of.

The only catch? They cost a wholesome US$40,000 (S$50,000) each: 23 grand to manufacture, and another US$16,000 to install, since each unit requires a telecoms and electrical line, as well as a cement platform.

It’s also coming to Singapore. One of these sleek garbage bins will be installed in the city-state as a trial run, reveals Chris O’Connor, the CFO of Renew Solution, the company behind the ambitious idea.

He won’t say where the device will be placed, but he hints that it’ll be somewhere near the Central Business District. Instagrammers will want to know that it’ll be in place by 1st September.

“It’s a fairly high profile location that every Singaporean would know,” he says. The exact features of the unit isn’t confirmed yet, so it might or might not be bomb-proof.

To be sure, ‘blast mitigation’ garbage bins are not new. According to Chris, the European Union, believe it or not, has established standards for these kinds of receptacles. So Renew went out of its way to get certification from a United States Department of Defense-certified bomb center. The company had to ensure five bomb tests before it was declared safe. That meant five trashed bins (pardon the pun), a costly endeavor.

What’s new though is that is that the device also serves as a media channel, broadcasting finance news, public service announcements, and any quality content that might interest bankers, lawyers, and professionals that the company targets. It is hooked up to the Internet via a broadband cable or a 3G connection.

A test unit has been placed on Wall Street, and the company is seeing strong interest from Japan and South Korea as well.

But Renew’s biggest coup to date has been a contract with the City of London, which essentially gives the company the right to set up 200 units in the area until 2032. This is noteworthy considering that rubbish bins have been removed from busy areas, as well as London Underground and British railway stations in the 80s after a spate of bombing incidents by the Irish Republican Army.

The company only added the bomb mitigation feature as a precondition to seeking approval from city officials to have the bins installed on the streets. But the inclusion of the emergency messaging system sealed the deal. Chris says that the bin can display announcements within 30 seconds of the company receiving the information. This feature is not only useful in emergencies, but also to announce train closures, congested traffic, and bad weather.