| The Swedish way of managing waste! |
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Last week en Europe, in Stockholm before taking-off to the USA. We try to fix as many appointments as possible in order not to miss anything in the country of the blond-haired girls ! Appointment at ENVAC, worldwide leader of the pneumatic collection of waste in the famous durable district of Hammerby Sjostad in Stockholm. Everything started in the 60's in Sweden, with an idea : Tout a commencé dans les années 60 en Suède d’une idée : Why not transporting our waste underground in order to keep our cities clean ?
Since then, a long roas was taken. Since the first installation in an hospital in 1961 and in a residential district in 1967, ENVAC became the master on the matter. 600 installations throughout the world are working today. Disney World in Florida,the Kuala Lumpur, airport, a district of 46 000 inhabitants in Southern Korea, the center town of Barcelona,the Taipei101 skyscraper in Taiwan… There are 500 employees in 16 countries working for ENVAC. the sales turnover is of 100M€ with a regular growth of 20%. A nice diagram is more useful than a long speech to explain the system :
  The dust bags circulate in the pipes at 70km/h ! and all move towards a single center.
THE MIRACLE SOLUTION ? The announced advantages are convincing : > 80% of reduction of the traffic related to the transport of waste. > Released public spaces (sorting sheds, dustbins…) > Less important public infrastructures(dustbins trucks specific traffic circles…) > More impotrant tidiness of the streets > Less traffic jam, accidents and noises due to the dustbin trucks circulation.
But the system is expensive: approximately 2 times more expensive in the investment than a classical system,( waste collection by truck). But its running cost is divided into 2.The return on investment is estimated around 15 years.
The installation of such a sytem is complex (network of underground pipes, access to the pipes every 50m…). One must think about it at the beginning of the planning of a district even if some sytems were adapted to old buildings (less effective as our guide says). The pneumatic solution of collecting waste seems to be a good long-term solution when it is integrated to the building since its origin and that it really makes easier the waste sorting out by the inhabitants. Swedish Ladies. A second good point ! Shake Your Planet
The bounds can also be integrated to the building.
The single station where all waste of the network are directed
Different containers inside the station for different types of waste.
Sorting out, pumpingair,filtation at the exit. What a machine...
Explanations, figures, visit... Thank you Jonas!
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By: N. CZARYSKI () on 07-12-2008