Dive Brief:
- Envac, a waste collection vacuum system, is being explored for cities like New York. The pneumatic tube disposal system collects waste in a typical-in-appearance trash receptacle, that is anything but ordinary.
- Materials are separated into different categories: recyclables, trash and organics. Each bin is monitored by a remote system. When the bin is full, a fan-powered suction system is activated, causing the waste to get sucked through a series of underground piping.
- Waste is delivered to a central collection station, where it is sorted and compressed for the landfill or recycling facility.
Dive Insight:
The Swedish company behind the Envac system has been installing and operating the waste management systems since the 1960s. Envac currently has waste removal tubes in Toronto's Pearson Airport, New York's Roosevelt Island, Disney World and more public, commercial and residential spaces around the world.
The benefits of implementing a pneumatic tube system are many: The amount of collection trucks on the road would be greatly reduced and possibly eliminated altogether. This would create less emissions released from the fleets, and lower taxes if curbside collection ceased to exist.
