Edinburgh may get giant vacuum cleaner - 16/06/2009

An innovative vacuum device may soon help to keep Edinburgh's streets commercially clean.

Council chiefs recently put forward proposals that could see litter on Prince's Street sucked away, the Evening News reports.

The device has been piloted in other UK cities and is integrated under pavements.

Large pipes connect to the surface of roads and remove waste via powerful suction mechanisms.

The £25 million scheme is expected to improve the commercial cleanliness of the city.

In addition, the vacuum cleaners may also reduce the region's carbon footprint by cutting the number of lorries that enter the area to clear waste.

Rob Winter, of the Princes Street Traders' Association, told the paper: "A lot of larger shops are already looking at how they deal with waste from an environmental perspective.

"If a system can be developed that is simple, easy to install and offers genuine cost benefits, then I think people will go for it."

Meanwhile, Pisa, Italy, recently welcomed the Dustbot onto its streets, which is a robot designed to track and pick up waste via information sent in text messages.

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