Amsterdam’s answer to its rubbish crisis? Remove some of the litter bins

Tourists picnic by a canal in central Amsterdam. Photograph: Naomi O'Leary/The Observer

City leaders in Amsterdam are taking a novel approach to keeping its streets clean – by taking away litter bins to combat rubbish in part blamed on people rifling through them to obtain refund deposits on some discarded items.

There has been a surge in complaints about litter in the Dutch capital since the introduction of a deposit scheme for small bottles and cans. Last year, a quarter of residents described their neighbourhood as dirty or very dirty, rising to two in five in the city centre.