Good intentions
need somewhere
to go.

Imagine finishing a cigarette while walking to a meeting. You may fully intend to dispose of it properly. But at that particular moment, where does it go? A message about litter and a usable disposal point are doing two quite different jobs.

The message tells you what you ought to do. The disposal point makes it possible to do it. The closer those two things come together, the more useful the whole arrangement becomes.

This is the starting point for Smartstreets: put the solution where the decision happens. Look at the places people pause, the routes they follow and the spots where litter repeatedly appears. Then ask whether the street is making considerate disposal easy enough.

It is tempting to judge provision by counting containers. Yet ten bins in places people rarely encounter may be less helpful than a smaller, carefully placed network. The important question is whether someone comes across a usable disposal point when they need one.

Lamp posts and sign posts offer an interesting opportunity. They are already part of the street. Repeating a recognisable disposal point on suitable posts can create a pattern people learn to look for.

The ambition is a network that feels part of the route, rather than a collection of isolated objects. It needs a survey, appropriate permissions and attention to access, clearances and servicing. Predictability is designed through placement; it is not something a container creates by itself.

People tend to approach a pavement fixture from more than one direction. A disposal point that is obvious from one approach can be much less obvious from the other.

The twin Smartbin arrangement fits two bins back to back around a suitable post, presenting an opening to pedestrians approaching along either side. It is a practical design response to the way a pavement is used.

Using an existing post also avoids introducing a separate freestanding support at every location. The objective is to add a useful function while respecting the street scene. Every location still needs checking for suitability.

A fixed network cannot cover every moment of a journey. That is where a reusable pocket ashtray has a different role: it lets someone carry a disposal point with them.

A campaign leaflet asks people to remember a message. A practical object gives them a way to act on it. The two can work together, but they should not be confused.

The same interest in the end of a journey applies to cycling. Someone arriving by bike needs a suitable place to secure it near the place they actually want to visit. Existing posts may offer an opportunity to provide parking there, subject to fit, access and installation checks.

Material collected tells us a disposal point is being used. It does not, on its own, tell us how much litter would otherwise have reached the ground. That is a different question, and it deserves a different measure.

The published City of London case study reports a 64% reduction in smoking-related litter as part of a wider programme. That programme combined Smartbins, pocket ashtrays, communication and enforcement. It is evidence for a coordinated approach, rather than a promise about what a bin will achieve in every location.

Local results should be checked locally. Count litter on the ground before and after installation, use comparable conditions and record the work involved in cleaning and servicing. A comparison location can help where it is practical.

The most useful next step may be quite modest: choose a persistent problem location and understand it properly. Where do people stop? Where are cigarette ends and gum accumulating? Which posts or other mounting positions are suitable?

Agree who will install and service the equipment, what will be measured and when the results will be reviewed. Include cleaning time, servicing time and the experience of the people who look after the street.

The purpose is to learn whether the arrangement works in that place. Keep what helps, refine what does not and use the evidence to decide what happens next. Better provision begins with an idea. A better scheme keeps learning.