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I have just discovered that those odd waste/recycling bins that are all over the oldest bits of Bergen, Norway, link to an UNDERGROUND PNEUMATIC WASTE TRANSPORT SYSTEM. The waste collects for a bit and then WHOOSH... it's off to the recycling centre. All underground. No bin lorries (garbage trucks), fewer road vehicles, less noise... amazing. @davidho says that my (considerable) excitement about this is entirely unreasonable. I disagree.
https://www.envacgroup.com/how-it-works/the-envac-system/
@helenczerski @davidho it's pretty cool but why are they mixing all the separated waste into one pipe?
Strong Duff brewery vibes.
@Pionir @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho Seriously why can't we have this but for people
@ill_logic @Pionir @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho It would take a great deal more air pressure. Also, people are not uniformly shaped, so a capsule is a must. While such pneumatic transport systems really did exist in the 19th century, these were never fully realised beyond exhibitions for world’s fairs.
Still, when I was a kid, I really wanted to ride around in those pneumatic tubes.
@enoch_exe_inc @ill_logic @Pionir @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho Hyperloop without the hyper
@martinvermeer @enoch_exe_inc @ill_logic @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho more chance of success than hyperloop too
@enoch_exe_inc @ill_logic @Pionir @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho some old world fairs had amazing transport ideas. One had parallel adjacent travelators (moving walkways). If you traversed to the fastest, you could zip along.
(Edited as I tried to check the speed and couldn't find it.)
@ill_logic @Pionir @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho Yah image if there was an underground system of thunnels to transport people effectively around town!
We could even call it "the tube"!!!
@ill_logic @Pionir @thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho My hometown once considered installing such a system to transport bodies to the cemetery.
@thiagocsf @davidho If you keep digging through all the information (I did), they say that it's such a smart system that it can sort out all the different packages when they arrive at the recycling plant. They know exactly what's going in, where it is, and when it arrives. It accumulated underneath each bin until there's enough to go in one package, and they can track those packages.
@helenczerski @thiagocsf @davidho Which is kinda the general-case answer; the pipe is expensive (buried downtown!) and you don't need it all the time plus you're moving discrete stuff rather than fluids so nearly anything you do to manage waste sorting that doesn't require another pipe is less expense than individual plumbing would be.
It does make me wonder if they've got a "another enterprising squirrel in bin A391" issue, and if so, what they do about it.
@helenczerski holy cow a garbage packet switching network! 
@thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho Because people are terrible at sorting so they have to redo it all anyway. If I'm remembering correctly.
Ninja edit: Nope, I'm wrong, check it: https://fediscience.org/@helenczerski/112135927015019450
@thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho I'd guess that discharging was done cyclically and the categories of recycling directed to different places at the destination.
@calmeilles excellent guess! It seems that’s exactly how it works, except it’s sorted at the same destination. Or so I’m told.
@thiagocsf @calmeilles unrelated but I just wanna say the bunny in your pfp is adorable
Edit: and so is the doggo in your profile banner
@enby_of_the_apocalypse 
the bunny is Moonlight, and the puppy is Zed, a border collie.
@thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho couldn't they do each collection type at different times of the day? Thus doing some presorting.
@thiagocsf @helenczerski @davidho I was thinking about that... I wondered whether there are valves in each container so that only the targeted ones open during each collection. Perhaps that would be more cost-effective than having more pipes underground.