Roosevelt Island AVAC System – New York, New York - Atlas Obscura
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Roosevelt Island AVAC System

Manhattan, New York

On this island, you suck away your garbage via an elaborate pneumatic tube system. 

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It doesn't run itself. Anna Minster (Atlas Obscura User)
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Crisscrossing beneath Roosevelt Island is a complex series of tubes not found in a majority of cities.

No, it’s not a subway system, it’s the Roosevelt Island Automated Vacuum Collection system.

One of only six of its kind to be used in the USA (the other major one is in Disney World), this incredible feat of Swedish engineering whisks away the garbage of all 20,000 inhabitants at speeds of up to 60 mph.

Trash is sucked out of the homes of Roosevelt Islanders through large pipelines using a complex system of air valves. The center where the garbage ends up is clean, modern and efficient, operated by a handful of engineers who monitor the waste disposal system from a glass box perched above the action.

Know Before You Go

It's the gray building just north of the Motorgate parking garage.

pneumatic tubes retro-tech
Community Contributors
Oliver Hong
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Oliver Hong
dlc31723
Annetta Black
Anna Minster
Mark Casey
Edited by
dlc31723, Annetta Black, Anna Minster, Mark Casey
Published
February 27, 2012
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