The £18,000 bomb-proof litter bins

It is a bin unlike any other - but it could provide a solution to security concerns, help increase recycling and keep commuters up to date with breaking news, weather and delays on the Tube.

It could also end the frustrating search for somewhere to dispose of rubbish in a city that now offers terrorists as few opportunities as possible to plant a bomb.

The Renew bin, which costs £15,000 to produce and £3,000 to install, has been designed to withstand the force of a bomb blast so it can be used in sensitive areas such as Tube stations and airports.

During the five-year design and testing period, prototypes with steel casing were blown up in the New Mexico desert.

The plastic surround is made from recycled materials and has an LCD screen on which news, weather and sports reports can be shown.

Each unit is big enough to contain a typical household wheelie bin - to make it easy for binmen to collect and empty.

During an emergency such as the 7/7 attacks, the screen's content could be changed within minutes to direct Londoners-away from certain areas or Tube stations.

The bins are the work of entrepreneurs Kaveh Memari and Brian James, who met in Canada and studied at the London School of Economics before setting up a company, Media Metrica.

They plan to offer the bins, which they prefer to call "recycling units", free to London local authorities and recoup the cost via sponsorship from firms keen to emphasise their corporate social responsibility - London currently recycles only 25 per cent of its waste.

Discussions with at least one council are said to be at an "advanced" stage.

Mr James said: "The UK needs to improve its performance on recycling.

"We recognised that in a post-7/7 world we needed to deliver a sustainable and secure solution that didn't cost anything to the public purse."