How Disney's magical trash tubes ended up in New York City

Insider

At Disney World, the Magic Kingdom uses a system of pneumatic tubes to keep trash out of sight for park visitors. While this was supposed to be the future of waste disposal, only one other place in the US uses something like it on a similar scale: Roosevelt Island in New York City.

Transcript

00:00 Disney World produces a lot of trash.

00:04 More than 15,000 pounds per day at Magic Kingdom alone.

00:09 But you won't see it anywhere.

00:13 The Magic Kingdom has a futuristic system of hidden tubes like these

00:18 that rocket trash out of sight at 60 miles per hour.

00:22 Disney's system is top secret though,

00:25 so we went to the only other place in the United States

00:27 that handles trash this way and on this scale.

00:30 Roosevelt Island, the tiny sliver of land

00:33 between Manhattan and Queens in New York City,

00:36 has been shooting its trash through tubes for nearly 50 years.

00:40 This was supposed to be the future of garbage.

00:43 No more curbside bags, giant trucks, and vermin.

00:48 Dozens of European cities have systems like this built into their infrastructure.

00:53 So how did Disney's magical trash tubes end up on a tiny island

00:58 in the middle of New York City?

01:00 And why hasn't the system taken off in the U.S.?

01:04 Pneumatic tubes date back to the early 1800s.

01:08 They essentially work like giant vacuums,

01:10 using compressed air to move objects from place to place.

01:14 Over the following decades, cities across the world

01:16 began using tubes to deliver mail,

01:19 as well as medical supplies, banknotes,

01:22 and at one point, even McDonald's.

01:26 But the idea was always to move people, like in the Jetsons.

01:33 By 1870, Alfred Eli Beach developed the first subway in New York City

01:38 using pneumatic power.

01:40 It only traveled the length of a city block

01:42 and was more of a proof of concept than anything else.

01:45 When Roosevelt Island first opened its doors to residents in 1975,

01:49 developers had a unique opportunity to experiment

01:52 with a new kind of waste management.

01:54 Previously, the island was home to a notorious mental health institution,

01:58 a smallpox hospital, and a prison.

02:01 This penitentiary is by far the worst in the United States.

02:05 The island needed an image overhaul and a solution to trash disposal.

02:10 At the time, New York City sanitation workers were on a nine-day strike.

02:15 More than a week went by with no garbage pickups,

02:18 and people were rioting.

02:21 The system was inspired by the one in Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

02:25 It was installed just a few years earlier and is still in use today.

02:28 So, how do they work?

02:33 This is Roosevelt Island's AVAC facility.

02:37 Automated vacuum-assisted collection process is really what it is.

02:43 Larry Carrick has worked as the island's senior stationary engineer since 2018,

02:48 and there's a lot to look after.

02:50 1974, I believe, this was all put in and operational.

02:54 This is still functional for the most part.

02:58 So yesterday was a 17-hour work day.

03:00 You know, it's part of the job.

03:03 Every day, about eight tons of trash run through these tubes.

03:07 Eventually, it all gets compressed into these containers.

03:14 The city's Department of Sanitation sends special trucks to pick them up three times a day,

03:18 along with containers filled with recyclables and bulk items too big for the island's AVAC system.

03:25 The trash goes to a transfer station in Queens.

03:28 There, it mingles with garbage from the rest of the city

03:30 and is sent to landfills or incinerators that burn trash to make energy.

03:35 The AVAC system doesn't solve the issue of where our trash ends up,

03:38 but it does make the process of how it gets there a whole lot cleaner.

03:44 All of this happens out of sight for the 11,000 people who live on the island.

03:48 I've been here for five years. I found out about two weeks ago.

03:53 But the AVAC system is far from perfect.

03:55 Decades of wear and tear have left the pipes prone to jams and leaks,

04:00 especially when residents don't understand what the system can handle.

04:04 Anything you can think of as far as crazy hockey sticks.

04:07 Somebody threw a bed frame in there.

04:09 A bunch of carpeting, backpacks.

04:11 And then I've heard about the infamous mattress and the infamous straw.

04:15 Goes around. So it's something to laugh at.

04:19 Fixing these jams requires some creative solutions.

04:24 So this basically spins. When we have the handle on it or a machine,

04:28 hopefully it grabs into whatever is the jam,

04:31 and we're able to pierce through the garbage.

04:34 Once we get this in good, we try to rip it out.

04:38 When it comes to bigger repairs, someone has to crawl inside.

04:42 And these tubes are only 18 inches in diameter.

04:45 If there's a leak on some of the pipe,

04:47 we'll have a gentleman that will actually climb into this area.

04:50 He gets onto a skateboard along with some welding equipment,

04:53 and he'll end up skating in here so we can weld up the hole itself.

04:58 It's a very simple, intuitive, easy process to use when it works.

05:03 When it doesn't work, it stinks.

05:05 But despite the occasional breakdown,

05:07 many residents prefer it to traditional trash collection.

05:12 Judith Birdie moved here in 1977, two years after it opened to residents.

05:17 And as president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society,

05:20 she literally wrote the book on it.

05:22 Oh, what a wonderful book. I think I'll read it.

05:25 She said she couldn't imagine trash collection any other way.

05:28 There's no way I want a traditional garbage pickup.

05:32 I love that we don't have trash on the street.

05:35 You don't see a rat anywhere to be found on this place.

05:40 In other parts of the world, AVAC systems have a more modern touch.

05:44 In Norway, these different cans separate trash from recycling.

05:49 And in Sweden and Spain, some are even fully automated.

05:53 So why can't Americans just stuff their trash down the tube?

05:57 The main reason, of course, is money.

06:00 Maintaining these systems is complicated and expensive.

06:03 Also, private developers don't really have any incentive

06:06 to invest in this kind of infrastructure.

06:08 One of the guys who builds these systems compares it to a sewer line.

06:12 How many times you have to flush the loo in your apartment

06:17 to amortize that investment, right?

06:21 That's a basic service you have at your house.

06:25 And installing them is messy, if not impossible.

06:28 It involves tearing down buildings to lay the pipes below ground.

06:32 That's especially tricky in New York City.

06:34 Manhattan has a huge complex underground.

06:37 Things like the subway system, gas lines, electric pipelines.

06:41 That it would be essentially impossible to implement an AVAC system

06:45 like the one we have here.

06:48 But at the Polo Grounds in Harlem,

06:51 New York City's housing authority is giving it a shot.

06:53 There's no one-size-fits-all approach.

06:56 For dense buildings and for high-rise buildings,

06:59 pneumatic collection can really save a lot of room on the curb.

07:03 This will be the first time in half a century

07:06 that an AVAC system will be installed in the city.

07:08 The project will cost an estimated $31 million

07:11 and will service 4,000 residents across four different buildings.

07:15 It's expected to be completed by summer 2024.

07:18 If the project works, it could serve as a model

07:21 for the rest of the city and the country.

07:24 A Swedish company called Envac designed the Roosevelt and Disney systems,

07:28 and it's looking to expand its American footprint.

07:30 We really think there's a huge potential market in the U.S.

07:35 It's still a long path. We know it is not going to be easy.

07:39 Roosevelt Island might not be the trashless utopia we were promised decades ago,

07:43 but advancements in AVAC could lead us to rethink

07:46 how we dispose of our waste and the infrastructure behind it.

07:50 Someone's got to take the time. Someone has to have the technology.

07:53 Around here, this can continue.

07:55 Someone has to continue to put money into upgrades and producing positive things.

08:01 This type of stuff, you can't really bend it.

08:07 I mean, it'll bend a little bit, but that's only because it has a bend in it already.

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