NYC's Trash-Sucking Tubes May Be Upgraded, Expanded 100
derekmead writes "When urban planners were trying to turn New York's Roosevelt Island from a haven for the disabled and the mentally ill into a liveable city, they got utopian. Lying beneath their plans was an unusual technology: a series of tubes that literally suck garbage from buildings at speeds up to 60 miles per hour to a central collection point, where the trash is taken off the island by truck or barge. Theoretically, that eliminates the emissions and traffic caused by giant garbage trucks, and makes trash sorting easier. Now, more than thirty years after the 'AVAC,' or Automated Vacuum Collection System, was installed, Envac, the Swedish company that built it, is exploring how to upgrade it and even extend the system to other parts of the city. Under a new feasibility study conducted by City University and funded by two city agencies, the easiest option would be to stretch the current system south, to cover the new technology campuses being built on Roosevelt Island by Cornell University and the Technion. "
Warning (Score:5, Informative)
Presentation on the system itself (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.envacgroup.com/MediaBinaryLoader.axd?MediaArchive_FileID=06b88c4f-5764-43f7-8f14-e86e31483755&FileName=FAQ+Stationary+vacuum+systems+March+2012.pdf&MediaArchive_ForceDownload=True&Time_Stamp=634757542565749136 [envacgroup.com]
If you're interested in the system itself, the company that makes the system offers this neat PDF presentation on its website.
Re:As the article says (Score:5, Informative)
I lived on Roosevelt Island for many years. Individuals don't put anything into the system. The building maintenance staffs do that. Residents just drop their bagged garbage down a shut and it is put into the collection system from there.
Re:Some things don't smell right-- (Score:5, Informative)
And how is "sorting easier" when it's flying into a "central collection point" (read: steadily growing pile) at 60 mph?
I lived on Roosevelt Island for many years. The trash is sorted in the building by residents (as in all NYC apartment buildings). Recyclables are run through the vacuum system at one time of day, and garbage during another time of day. It does help with the sorting at the collection station.
Re:bad idea because of... (Score:5, Informative)
It'd have to be piston driven from behind because no velocity of air can dislodge certain viscosity materials and no reasonable air pressure can move heavy metals.
Your speculations are rendered moot by the fact that this system has been operating successfully for 35 years now.