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Environment

Vacuuming Trash in Toronto

Posted by Greg Davis / April 15, 2008

21 Comments

vacuum_trash.jpgPhoto from WATERFRONToronto

A vacuum trash collection system is potentially coming to Toronto. Last week a report went to City Council seeking support for building vacuum waste pipe connections in new homes in the West Don Lands development. If made a reality, it would be the first of its kind in Canada

Its a technology that has the potential to make garbage disposal extremely convenient and clean for residents. It uses pipes in the ground connected to your home to move trash to central collection spots. Basically, a user puts their waste into one of three chutes (organics, paper, garbage), and it gets sucked away to underground to collection areas. Out of sight, out of mind.

Proponents claim the systems can increase diversion rates (more convenient to sort) and cut costs by eliminating curbside pickups.

A good description of how the system might work, with a diagram, can be found in this National Post article.

The idea seems to make more sense in the context of waste incineration, which is how it is used in Scandanavian countries. The waste is incinerated and the resulting electricity is used to for heat in the homes. Its unclear whether the proposed development would include an incineration element in their system or simply sort into the three streams for disposal.

WATERFRONToronto was set up by the city, province, and feds to redevelop public land on Toronto's shore, and is leading the push for the project along with developers.

An innovative new idea that sounds cool to boot. Toronto could certainly use some innovation if it is to make any progress in its waste diversion goals of 60 per cent by 2006 (expired) and 100 per cent by 2010.

Discussion

21 Comments

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David Toronto / April 15, 2008 at 11:58 am
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We have the current system of user pay.
Would it be possible to meter this system so that
heavier users would pay more? Or is that possible
with this vacuum system?
If there were no metering, all sorts of abuses
could arise and it could become more expensive
than planned.
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Kat / April 15, 2008 at 12:07 pm
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I remember hearing about a system in Germany where trash was still put curbside, but when trucks came for collection a microchip in the trash bin helped calculate how much trash you were getting rid of and then billed you accordingly. It seems a good way to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle. Now to just figure out how to stop the massive amounts of dumping that happens along back roads in and around the city.
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Patrick / April 15, 2008 at 12:35 pm
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Umm, why is Waterfront Toronto pushing this (admittedly cool) project? Shouldn't they be concentrating on other things, like preserving the last remaining shoreline and encouraging infrastructure that will help people enjoy the lake?

This sounds like the kind of thing the City should be doing. Oh right, our mayor is in China playing Foreign Minister.
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stef / April 15, 2008 at 12:59 pm
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you can read about the microchip here:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/tracking-device-on-bins-ensures-residents-chip-in/2008/04/13/1208025032766.html

it's currently being used in one city in Australia - unknown to residences.
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Dave / April 15, 2008 at 12:59 pm
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Oh perfect - put in yet another piece of expensive infrastructure that we won't have funds to repair in 15 years. Then we can whine to the province and demand they pick up the cost...all so precious Torontoians don't have to have ugly bins on their property.
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Jay / April 15, 2008 at 01:12 pm
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This has a lot of potential - both good and bad.

Some questions will surely arise, like:

*where do cans and bottles go?
*how much will it cost?
*can the city afford it - Miller keeps saying we're broke.
*what happens when a baby crawls in? what about a cat?
*how many sanitation workers will lose their jobs as the result of this system?
*what are the environmental implications vs. having trucks on the roads?
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C7lee / April 15, 2008 at 01:33 pm
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People who bring forth these ideas are clueless to what our city actually needs. Most likely this was brought forth with a conflict of interest by some sales person trying to win a contract and make money. It's pathetic really.
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Sean / April 15, 2008 at 01:34 pm
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"what happens when a baby crawls in? what about a cat?"

HELLO??? WHAT ABOUT RATS & BUGS COMING IN?

ENOUGH OF GOVERNMENTS MAKING US 'PLAY' WITH GARBAGE!
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Mark Dowling / April 15, 2008 at 01:38 pm
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Patrick - the reason Waterfront Toronto is behind it is because it's easier to build in new districts such as they are planning rather than retrofit it in existing neighbourhoods.

@Jay - the city will have to pay to get extra trucks to service the new neighbourhoods anyway. Sanitation workers would not likely lose jobs but there would be fewer extra ones needed.

The big advantage of this system is that it would take diesel trucks off the street and reduce congestion/smog since if it ran off peak it would use nuclear or hydro power at night - it would also mean you could dump trash as you produce it rather than waiting two weeks while it ferments. The problem would be - where would the pipe end, and how would the people who live nearby feel about that?
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Jay / April 15, 2008 at 01:46 pm
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What is the cost of a truck to service a neighbourhood vs. the cost of this fancy new system? How do you know that no workers would lose their jobs? It seems to me that if a system like this is expanded to service the entire city, there would be no need for the folks who currently pick up our trash.

This seems like an incredibly expensive undertaking for a broke city to be considering. Why is it that we always need new stuff? The TV stops working - don't fix it - by a newer, bigger, better one. We're like a bunch of fucking children.

Maybe we should fix our roads instead. Expand the subway. Get homeless off the street. Keep swimming pools open. There are many ways I can think of to spend any extra money the city has laying around.
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W. K. Lis / April 15, 2008 at 02:12 pm
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Put the vacuum trash system in the subway stations, so that we will have someplace to drop our trash.

Since the TTC got rid of the trash containers in the subway stations, the stations have become themselves trashy. At least with the vacuum system, the supposedly problem item will be sucked out of the station at the time of disposal.
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montrealshorts / April 15, 2008 at 03:54 pm
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I think we should make 'bum-vacuums' to vacuum all of the city's bums into centerfugal bins for later disposal. We could leverage the TTC's system of tunnels, and simply push bums down the stairs of TTC stations where they would be simply sucked away and sorted more economically at Kennedy and Kipling, before being eventually shipped to Michigan landfills.

That was irony, sarcasm, whathaveyou.
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bb / April 15, 2008 at 04:20 pm
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The city claims it has no money
and needs to cut back on essential services
but week after week
the city announces plans to introduce new services and new systems
that are not essential.
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Diane / April 15, 2008 at 05:08 pm
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Um, think about this for a bit.

I'm pretty sure this is an April Fools joke that not everyone has caught on to yet.
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Patrick / April 15, 2008 at 05:17 pm
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Mark Dowling, do you not think that WT is going a little beyond its mandate with this sort of thing? Why can't they stick to their mission and give us a proper waterfront?
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Hamish Grant / April 15, 2008 at 05:27 pm
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They use a system similar to this in Barcelona, Spain. It works quite well as far as I was able to discern. And they were able to integrate it into their old neighbourhoods too.
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john pee / April 15, 2008 at 06:12 pm
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Just a matter of time before someone puts their dick in one and sues the city for millions.

I like the Jetsons aspect of it, but wouldn't 'outta sight, outta mind' make people produce more waste?
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Justin / April 16, 2008 at 02:36 am
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a great way to dispose of any human waste for the homeless community! at the same time, the homeless community will have less to eat.
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yammy / April 16, 2008 at 09:15 am
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wow some seriously pessimistic comments....makes me feel like some torontonians don't really want to elevate the sophistication of their environment....forget about the money we don't have, and forget about all the mitigating circumstances for once, and try to imagine that maybe there is a greater purpose outside of your own personal self-fulfillment and consuming nature which you seem to forget may have some of its misgivings...and imagine holistically what greater good this tool will serve to lend itself to create for own city of toronto....

sometimes i am disgusted in the lackadaisical comments on this blog and from torontonians who merely write without reflecting on opportunities that are an attempt to better the environment we live in....nice one folks..!

and please don't forget justify and defend your pessimism in hopes to further protect your ego's from criticism your not able to hack...
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Gregg / April 16, 2008 at 02:37 pm
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... um, they have one in Disneyland ...
.. lol .. no further comment ..
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Kerry / April 17, 2008 at 11:10 am
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Yammy, I must agree. People really cannot complain about things that they know nothing about. This technology is taking off like wildfire in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The monetary and health benefits of this technology has been proven. I have read all of the posts above and for all of those that have a negative comment, there has already been a positive attribute to outweigh anything negative. People really have to stop negating the European countries. They certainly have a much better handle on healthy living by providing sociable and sustainable practices.
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