Local campaigners have expressed anger at the new smart-powered big belly bins rolled out in Kingston town centre earlier this year, which are left overflowing with rubbish.

Images published on social media show full-to-the-brim town centre bins, with takeaway boxes and coffee cups strewn onto the street.

The 58 big belly bins, which cost £359,000 to install according to a council document, are powered by solar energy and can hold up to eight times as much waste as a standard bin.

The high-tech bins were rolled out earlier this year as a way to reduce the potential for overflowing bins.

The bins in Kingston town centre were originally allocated a budget of £898,000 by members of the residents committee, and the cost was meant to be offset by advertising revenue.

However, when no advertising bids were received from the market, the capital budget for the big belly bins was cut to £359,000, according to a council report.

As part of the plans, litter sensors were set up on 428 bins outside​ ​of the​ ​core​ ​town centre​ ​areas, sending a message to the council when the bin is nearly full, at an initial cost of £286,000.

James Giles, from New Malden, a community campaigner, said: “Bins are overflowing despite the sensors.

“It’s one of two things: either the bins are broken or, more likely, they are sending a message the council is not picking up.”

The leader of Kingston council Cllr Liz Green has described the problem of overflowing big belly bins in Kingston town centre as “another tory mess” on Twitter this week.

A tweet published from Cllr Liz Green’s Twitter account at 5.31pm on October 9 reads: “Was not supposed to cost money.

“Changed since we agreed to it without consultation, it was clear the potential advertising had to be ‘favourable’ and yet not was found.”

A Kingston council spokesperson said: "Because the new bins hold a lot more rubbish and require less frequent emptying, we’re able to use our resources more effectively and focus our efforts on other aspects of street cleaning such as sweeping.

“When rubbish is jammed into a bin, it creates a blockage and impacts the sensor that notifies us when the bin is full.

"We have the option to install a newly available blockage sensor, which we're going to start trialling to further enhance the performance of this service.”