Canada is getting its first municipal underground vacuum waste collection systems.
Envac is already at work on its $8.2 million tube network in Les Quartiers des Spectacles, an area of one square km near Places des Arts on Rue Sainte-Catherine West in Montreal, Que. It is scheduled to be completed by 2014.
Envac is also working on another Canadian contract in La Cite Verte, a new development in Quebec City. The area is located in the Saint-Sacrement district between University Laval and the Sainte-Foy-Sillery districts is a sustainable development of 800 homes that will have 489 inlets for household use and nine inlets for commercial uses. A 1.2 km Envac system of pneumatic tubes will collect waste and organic materials as well as recyclables in Canada's new "green" city starting in 2013, the company says.
Envac says the main advantage of the vaccum technology is two-fold: It eliminates the need for trucks to collect garbage – reducing pollution -- and the vac bins make it easier to separate the waste into different streams for recycling.
According to Envac: "With a vacuum system, nobody needs to come into contact with waste sacks or containers," its product description says.
"All full inlets are emptied at regular intervals via a control system in a terminal building on the periphery of the area. This terminal building is linked to the inlets by means of an underground pipe system. This vacuum system can handle waste from the most diverse of organisations – from offices, shops, restaurants and from households as well, of course."
There are over 600 waste vacuum systems installed in 40 countries around the world, including London, U.K., and Barcelona, Spain.
Envac AB is one of the leading environmental technology companies in Sweden and the global leader in the vacuum waste collection industry.
The first vacuum system was installed in 1961, and today the systems are found all over the world - in residential areas, business premises, town centres, industrial kitchens, hospitals and airports, Envac says.