Manchester City Centre, Manchester City Council

Project	Manchester City Centre
Client	Manchester City Council
Scope	metroSTOR PBM Bin Storage Housing

The Issue

For Manchester City Council (MCC), maintaining a clean and attractive city centre has long been a logistical and visual challenge. High-density living above shops and restaurants, coupled with heavy footfall, limited vehicle access and a growing hospitality scene, created an environment where traditional waste collection methods simply weren’t working.

Until recently, street cleaning teams would collect litter throughout the day, bag it up and leave it in designated “bag points” across the city centre for later collection. These uncontained bags were vulnerable to being kicked, split or scavenged, leaking waste, attracting vermin and staining pavements. They also encouraged passers-by and businesses to add their own refuse, compounding the problem and creating unsightly, unhygienic hotspots in highly visible public areas.

In an attempt to mitigate this, wheeled bins were introduced as interim storage but these proved problematic too; often misused, visually intrusive and still prone to fly tipping and side waste.

The Solution

Manchester City Council collaborated with metroSTOR and the city’s waste and street furniture teams, to develop a tailored solution that could meet operational needs while respecting Manchester’s vibrant ‘curb appeal’ and public realm values.

Five bespoke metroSTOR PBM bin storage housings were installed at key locations including Thomas Street, Piccadilly, Piccadilly Gardens and Long Millgate. These housings were designed to:

Conceal and contain waste safely in 1100L bins
Restrict access with coded locks to prevent contamination and misuse
Withstand vandalism, with an anti-graffiti powder-coated finish
Blend into the urban realm, matching Manchester’s existing street furniture and design
Support biodiversity with sedum-only green roofs
Celebrate local identity with the iconic Manchester Bee – an emblem for over 150 years, the Manchester worker bee is one of the most recognised symbols of the city’s resilience and industry; subtly incorporated into the door panels on new units

One unit was intentionally left without graffiti protection to allow a local street artist (@heart_murals) to add a custom mural, further rooting the project in Manchester’s creative culture.

The Installation

With several installation sites located within heritage and conservation zones, the installation approach needed to avoid any long-term damage to surfaces or substructures.

metroSTOR achieved this by carefully lifting the existing paving, installing foundation pads beneath ground level, then re-laying the original surface, leaving a clean, flush finish. The housings are bolted discreetly to the foundations, allowing for future removal or relocation without leaving a lasting mark on the public realm.

The Impact: Before and After

The change has been enormous. Where bags and open bins once clustered around pavements, attracting litter and fly tipping, there are now discreet, well-integrated bin stores. Sam Davis, Service Improvement Manager for Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing at MCC explained,

“We’ve reduced bag points from probably five to ten different sites, down to zero. It’s nice and controlled and then a vehicle can come along and empty them when it’s convenient.

It’s a very small footprint, very discreet… It’s a great way of consolidating everything and being more efficient with your resource.”

This simple consolidation has made a significant difference to efficiency in the city centre. Rather than multiple collection visits a day across various bag points, crews now make a single, scheduled stop, saving staff time, reducing vehicle movements and lowering emissions.

Feedback from MCC’s waste and street furniture teams has been overwhelmingly positive. The design aligns with existing infrastructure such as litter bins and bollards and the green roofs add visual softness and ecological value, helping integrate the units into both paved and green spaces.

The project is now seen as a blueprint for expanding bin storage infrastructure across the city and beyond. By tackling visual blight, improving cleanliness and making better use of limited space, the Manchester City Centre metroSTOR pilot demonstrates how thoughtful design can transform waste management in even the most complex urban settings.

“Definitely would recommend trialling units like this — particularly in the street scene, where you’re trying to consolidate waste from litter bins that you can’t easily access with a vehicle.”

Sam Davis, Service Improvement Manager for Waste, Recycling and Street Cleaning at MCC