Envac: going underground in the Thames Gateway?
The system solves a lot of the problems developers face when
trying to produce a waste strategy taking into account today’s
demands for sustainable development and negating the need for
communal bins and bin stores totally. This frees up valuable space
for useful purposes. It takes away the need for any refuse staff to
handle waste or bins at all, and as the waste or recyclables can
be piped up to 2km away to the central collection station, refuse
trucks do not need to enter onto new residential developments
In the Thames Gateway area, Envac have recently compiled
at all. Vehicle movements are between 5 and 10% of traditional
detailed feasibility studies for both the Greenwich Peninsula and
collection methods, reducing carbon emissions in the process.
Barking Riverside projects.
As the waste material is sorted into roll on off size containers
at the collection station, local authority waste collection is a
In Sweden in the late 1950’s, a company called Envac invented
fraction of its previous cost also.
a vacuum cleaning system where the housewife or husband
could simply plug their vacuum cleaner into the wall of their
Whilst the system has become standard in many parts of the
apartment and the dust sucked could be sent centrally down a
world, it has not been seen in the UK, until now. The developer
pipe into a common dust collection point at the bottom of their
Quintain has chosen the Envac method for its Wembley City
building. The system was adopted by hospitals in the same way
development where it will connect up 4,200 new flats. The
and the company flourished with orders for this novel way of
system blends perfectly with the London Borough of Brent’s
getting rid of vacuum cleaner waste.
waste collection strategy. Three waste streams are collected,
residual waste, mixed dry recyclables (paper, glass, cans, plastic
In the early 1960’s an employee of Envac asked the question ‘’If
and card) and organic waste. The system at Wembley has been
you can vacuum dust and transport it through pipes, why not
running for a year now, and recycling rates of almost 50% are
do the same with household waste?’’ There the underground
being achieved (this against a regional recycling rate in London
automated vacuum waste system was invented, and the first
of less than 30%).
system was installed in Stockholm, collecting solid waste and
transporting it by vacuum in underground pipes to a central
The interest in Envac in the UK is simply phenomenal. It ticks
collection station where the fans used to create the vacuum
all the boxes for developers, architects, local authorities, urban
are housed.
planners and residents alike. It creates a living environment
where you simply don’t need to live with smelly and ugly waste
Today Envac is owned by the Swedish shipping company, Stena.
bins around you, and refuse trucks don’t enter into residential
There are over 600 installations worldwide including huge
streets at all. The waste is simply moved by air in the underground
swathes of Barcelona, the Disney World theme park, Florida and
pipe network to the edge of the development away from where
the Palm Island in Dubai. The system has become a standard
people live.
choice for new housing developments in many parts of Europe
and Asia for collecting waste and recyclables.
www.envac.net
4 5
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12