These Pipes Are Clean

“The medieval heart of this 955-year-old city is home to one of the most high-tech waste management systems in the world. Beneath the cobblestones lies a network of tubes that sucks trash out of the city with the force of half a million household vacuum cleaners.” WaPo (Gift Article): Trash sucks: A Norwegian city uses vacuum tubes to whisk waste away. “When an inlet on Haugen’s street fills, a trapdoor opens and dumps the contents into a 20-inch steel tube below the street. At a waste station a mile away, three industrial fans start spinning. They suck air through the tubes at 40 mph, stirring up a tropical-storm-force garbage gale that subsides in a 20-foot container at the station. It’s like having a central vacuum system for your house, but also for all of your neighbors.” (Why do I have a bad feeling this system will eventually lead to a headline like, “Beloved Missing Grandmother Last Seen Taking Out the Trash.”)