LONDON - CENTRAL London's financial district will begin installing bomb-proof recycling bins from next year, the company responsible for the product said.

The bins, which cost around 30,000 pounds (S$72,000) each to produce and install, will also feature news and weather information on LCD screens that are part of the bins.

'From a blast technology side, it's just something that should be there,' said Mr Brian James, the chief operating officer of Media Metrica, the company providing the product. 'You don't expect to get into an accident, but you make sure you have seat belts.'

Media Metrica will fund the production, installation and maintenance of the bins after signing a 15-year contract with the City of London, the local authority that administers the British capital's financial district.

Mr James said the company was in talks with potential corporate sponsors, and is expected to finalise those arrangements by the end of March 2009, with the bins being installed by the end of next year in around 100 locations.

He added that the company is also in discussions with other major cities such as New York, Singapore and Tokyo.

'It's a pretty expensive product to produce, because as you can imagine, the blast technology is basically military technology,' he said. 'It's very expensive to put in.'

The screens on the units will feature light-sensitive technology that will ensure that they automatically brighten or dim, depending on the strength of light at the time, and Mr James said he expected they would be powered using green technology.

The bins themselves, which were extensively tested in the American state of New Mexico, are made of a steel composite produced using 'blast-intelligent technology' that would absorb the force and fire of any potential explosion. -- AFP.