The BigBelly garbage cans use solar panels to generate power.
(Steve Rukavina/CBC)

The City of Montreal is going solar in its bid to clean up downtown streets.

The Ville-Marie borough has launched a pilot project starring BigBelly, a "green" garbage can that uses cordless compaction technology.

The sun-powered trash cans compact garbage using solar energy, and can hold up to five times the volume of regular garbage cans.

Compacting garbage reduces the need for trash collection and could decrease the all-too-common Montreal sight of overflowing rubbish bins.

"If it's effective at the end of the summer, we will buy more and we will put them everywhere downtown," said borough mayor Benoit Labonté.

The Ville-Marie borough will install 4 BigBelly rubbish bins in the downtown core.
(Steve Rukavina/CBC)

The bins, worth $5,000 each, seal the trash inside the receptacle to prevent blowing debris.

One bin will be installed at Berri Square, a second on Ste-Catherine Street and two more in Old Montreal, Labonté said.

City of Montreal officers will start issuing tickets for litter misdemeanours starting Friday, officials confirmed.

The city's tough anti-littering rules were announced last February.

Everyone will be subject to the rules, even tourists, Labonté said.

"Every tourist, every time they will register in any hotel in downtown Montreal, they will receive a document to teach them and make them aware about the new bylaw," he said.

The city's cleanliness has been under discussion for several months.

First-time offenders will be fined $125, and businesses could face penalties up to $5,000.