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NYC's Trash-Sucking Tubes May Be Upgraded, Expanded

Posted by Soulskill on from the it's-the-mega-maid-sir dept.

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. "

8 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. A series of tubes? by Bodhammer · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean like the internet? I don't think we need more tubes that move garbage...

    --
    "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
    1. Re:A series of tubes? by plopez · · Score: 2, Funny

      "a series of tubes rapidly carrying trash" yep, that's as good of a description of the internet as there is..... :)

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    2. Re:A series of tubes? by Arancaytar · · Score: 3, Funny

      They wanted a series of tubes to replace the big-truck system they currently have in place.

  2. I knew it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I always knew that NY sucked, just not that it did it literally.

  3. Re:Big enough to suck in a small child or pet. by Krater76 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or what could go right?

    If we end up with the (New) New York City from Futurama with transport tubes, I for one will welcome our new Omicron Persei overlords.

    --
    "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
  4. Re:Sound stupid by jesseck · · Score: 4, Funny

    UDP... I like to live in the moment.

  5. Re:Warning by Megahard · · Score: 5, Funny

    +5 Informative????!? Ok, here's some more tips for lonely slashdotters:
    Do not put your dick in the light socket
    Do not put your dick in the milking machine
    Do not put your dick in the salami slicing machine
    Do not put your dick in the toaster
    Do not put your dick in anything that's been dead for more than 5 hours

    There must have been countless horrific injuries before we had the internet to dispense this essential information.

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  6. Re:Big enough to suck in a small child or pet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know, aren't the NYC subways great?