Bergen, Norway is a stunning location, yet there’s something deeper lurking beneath its surface. The nearly thousand-year-old city has become home to one of the most advanced waste management systems worldwide. Instead of depending on gas-consuming garbage trucks for waste collection, residents dispose of their rubbish in vacuum tubes that transport the trash out of the city.
A piece from The Washington Post regarding the development states that the system extracts trash from the city with the “power of half a million household vacuum cleaners.” That’s quite a significant force, and if the reports are accurate, it could indeed be an effective means of addressing the city’s waste.
The design of this system has enabled Bergen to depend less on waste collection trucks, which often congested the narrow streets of the city. This has reduced traffic and decreased diesel emissions by as much as 90%, according to the reports. That’s a substantial victory in our battle against climate change, although ongoing shifts to the EPA here in the US might lessen the impact of these reductions.
Bergen is not the sole city leveraging these vacuum-like waste removal systems. Approximately 200 cities have embraced the concept, including Seoul, Stockholm, and Qatar. What sets Bergen apart, however, is that the city has been extending the system into historic neighborhoods, providing everyone the opportunity to benefit from this cutting-edge waste disposal system.
Implementing a system like this is not inexpensive, and Bergen has invested over $100 million to develop its innovative waste disposal system. Moreover, the city is far from concluding the installation of these garbage-sucking tubes. It will be fascinating to observe how the city continues to progress with the installation of this new system, as well as how many other cities opt for similar solutions.
We could undoubtedly gain from a system like this in major US cities, but establishing the infrastructure would require considerable effort. Of course, these types of systems still do not resolve the fundamental issues associated with our landfills, but that’s a topic for another time.
