How disneys magical trash tubes end up in new york city

Disney World produces a lot of trash

more than 15 000 tons per day at Magic

Kingdom alone

but you won't see it anywhere the Magic

Kingdom has a futuristic system of

hidden tubes like these that rocket

trash out of sight at 60 miles per hour

Disney system is top secret though so we

went to the only other place in the

United States that handles trash this

way and on this scale

Roosevelt Island the tiny sliver of land

between Manhattan and Queens in New York

City has been shooting its trash through

tubes for nearly 50 years this was

supposed to be the future of garbage

no more curbside bags giant trucks and

vermin

dozens of European cities have systems

like this built into their

infrastructure

so how did Disney's Magical trash tubes

end up on a tiny island in the middle of

New York City and why hasn't the system

taken off in the U.S

pneumatic tubes date back to the early

1800s they essentially work like giant

vacuums using compressed air to move

objects from place to place

over the following decades cities across

the world began using tubes to deliver

mail as well as medical supplies

banknotes and at one point even

McDonald's

but the idea was always to move people

like in The Jetsons

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by 1870 Alfred Eli Beach developed the

first Subway in New York City using

pneumatic power

it only traveled the length of a city

block and was more of a proof of concept

than anything else when Roosevelt Island

first opened its doors to Residents in

1975 developers had a unique opportunity

to experiment with a new kind of Waste

Management previously the island was

home to a notorious Mental Health

institution a smallpox hospital and a

prison

Centuries by far the worst

Island needed an image overhaul and a

solution to trash disposal at the time

New York City sanitation workers were on

a nine-day strike more than a week went

by with no garbage pickups and people

were rioting

the system was inspired by the one in

Disney World's Magic Kingdom it was

installed just a few years earlier and

is still in use today

so how do they work

this is Roosevelt Island's avac facility

automated vacuum assisted collection

process is really what it is Larry

Carrick has worked as the Island's

senior stationary engineer since 2018

and there's a lot to look after

1974 I believe this was all put in and

operational this is still functional for

the most part

so yesterday was a 17 hour work day you

know it's part of the job

every day about eight tons of trash run

through these tubes

eventually it all gets compressed into

these containers

the city's Department of Sanitation

sends special trucks to pick them up

three times a day along with containers

filled with recyclables and bulk items

too big for the Island's avac system

s to a transfer station in Queens

there it mingles with garbage from the

rest of the city and is sent to

landfills or incinerators that burn

trash to make energy

the avac system doesn't solve the issue

of where our trash ends up but it does

make the process of how it gets there a

whole lot cleaner

all of this happens out of sight for the

11 000 people who live on the island

I've been here for five years I've found

out about two two weeks ago

but the avac system is far from perfect

Decades of wear and tear have left the

pipes prone to jams and leaks especially

when residents don't understand what the

system can handle

anything you could think of as far as

crazy hockey sticks somebody threw a bed

frame in there a bunch of carpeting back

packs and then I've heard about the

infamous mattress and the infamous straw

it goes around

so it's something to laugh at

fixing these jams requires some Creative

Solutions

so this basically spins when we have the

handle on it or a machine hopefully it

grabs into whatever is is the jam and

we're able to pierce through the garbage

once we get this in good we try to rip

it out

when it comes to bigger repairs someone

has to crawl inside

and these tubes are only 18 inches in

diameter if there's a leak on some of

the pipe we'll have a gentleman that'll

actually climb into this area he gets

onto a skateboard along with some

welding equipment and he'll end up

skating in here so we can weld up the

hold itself

that's very simple intuitive easy

process to use when it works when it

doesn't work it stinks but despite the

occasional breakdown many residents

prefer it to traditional trash

collection

Judith birdie moved here in 1977. two

years after it opened to residents and

as president of the Roosevelt Island

Historical Society she literally wrote

the book on it oh what a wonderful book

I think over yes she said she couldn't

imagine trash collection any other way

no way I want a traditional garbage

pickup

I love it that we don't have trash on

the street you don't see a rat anywhere

to be found on this place

in other parts of the world avac systems

have a more modern touch

in Norway these different cans separate

trash from recycling

and in Sweden and Spain some are even

fully automated

so why can't Americans just stuff their

trash down the tube

the main reason of course is money

maintaining these systems is complicated

and expensive also private developers

don't really have any incentive to

invest in this kind of infrastructure

one of the guys who builds these systems

Compares it to a sewer line

how many times you have to flash the

glue in your apartment to a mortgage

size that investment right it's a basic

service you have at your house

and installing them is messy if not

impossible it involves tearing down

buildings to lay the pipes below ground

that's especially tricky in New York

City

Manhattan has a huge complex underground

things like the subway system gas lines

electric pipelines that would be

essentially impossible to implement an

avac system like the one we have here

but at the polo grounds in Harlem New

York City's Housing Authority is giving

it a shot there's no one-size-fits-all

approach for dense buildings and and for

high-rise buildings pneumatic collection

can really save a lot of room on the

curb

this will be the first time in half a

century that an avac system will be

installed in the city the project will

cost an estimated 31 million dollars and

will service 4 000 residents across four

different buildings it's expected to be

completed by summer 2024. if the project

works it could serve as a model for the

rest of the city and the country

a Swedish company called nvac designed

the Roosevelt and Disney systems and

it's looking to expand its American

footprint we really think there's a huge

potential Market in the U.S it's still

long path we know it is not going to be

easy Roosevelt Island might not be the

trashless Utopia we were promised

decades ago but advancements in avac

could lead us to rethink how we dispose

of our waste and the infrastructure

behind it

someone's got to take the time someone

has to have the technology around here

this can continue someone has to

continue to put money into upgrades and

producing positive things

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this type of stuff you can't really bend

it

I mean it'll bend a little bit but and

that's only because it hasn't been in it

As of now