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September 30, 2008 NEWS
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Montreal talks trash City unveils high-tech garbage disposal plan by PALOMA FRIEDMAN
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Vacuum-powered garbage bins may soon render traditional trash cans obsolete in Montreal. The city has inked a deal with Envac, a Swedish waste management firm, to install a pneumatic waste-disposal system in the area around Place des Arts, which has been tapped for redevelopment and dubbed ‘le Quartier des spectacles.’ The new system’s receptacles empty automatically as they’re filled with waste, which is then sucked through an underground network of tubes to a collection site at speeds of up to 70 km/h.
Overflowing garbage bins in Montreal are the target for the city's new action plan. PHOTO Elsa Jabre
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An underground network that is easily accessible raises safety concerns, however. Some major European cities have removed trash bins from public places for fear that bombs
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can be discreetly placed inside them. City of Montreal spokesperson Isabelle Poulin said there are no such Password: *
concerns here. “This system is in place all across Europe, where it has certainly been tested against this sort of thing,” Poulin said.
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The city touts the system as sustainable and safe. Separate openings will sort waste into recyclables, organic matter and trash. And by having the garbage removed at the source, the need for garbage trucks will be cut, resulting in less traffic for an area that is often crowded. The city estimates that the system, which runs on
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electricity, will save 100 tonnes of fossil fuel emissions per year. However, the tubes can’t accommodate larger items like furniture, so garbage trucks won’t be eliminated altogether. The upgrade comes at a cost of $8.2 million, and will cost $300,000 annually to operate. The project will begin in 2009 while roads in the area are open for work on the aging sewer system, and is due to be completed in 2010. Envac has systems in place across Europe in Sweden, London and Barcelona, as well as in Disney World, Florida. The city of Toronto has plans for a similar system in the works.
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