City ponders £25m vacuum under Princes Street to suck rubbish

Published on Monday 15 June 2009 10:01

A £25 MILLION vacuum-powered rubbish chute would be built beneath Princes Street under plans being considered by city leaders.

The ambitious scheme would see pipes laid under the historic street, which would suck away rubbish from shops and offices through underground pipes, at speeds approaching 50mph, to a central collection point.

The move is designed to try and reduce the scores of rubbish lorries that service the area via Rose Street Lane, which city leaders want to open up for new development as part of their regeneration efforts for Princes Street.

It is thought the scheme could cost up to 25m and will take up to two years to be installed if it wins the backing of city leaders.

The vacuum waste system is already in place in a number of European cities, including historic parts of Barcelona. It made its UK debut in London last year, where a system to deposit recyclable, organic and normal rubbish into separate colour-coded containers was installed in a 700-home development in Wembley.

Last year, the Evening News revealed council chiefs are also considering installing a city centre "heat recovery" system. This would capture hot air from buildings on Princes Street and use it to heat water for heating systems.

Traders today gave the vacuum waste system their backing, while city leaders said it would provide a 21st-century solution for effectively managing city-centre waste.

Rob Winter, of the Princes Street Traders' Association, said:

"At the moment we have some shops using the council and some using private suppliers to deal with waste, and when you add that up it is a lot of arrangements and lorry journeys.

"A lot of the larger shops are already looking at how they deal with waste from an environmental perspective, but also the fees for collection are increasing all the time.

"If a system can be developed that is simple, easy to install and offers genuine cost benefits, then I think people will go for it."

The system installed at Wembley vacuums about 700 homes worth of waste into one of its central containers.

These are then collected by council waste lorries in less than three minutes.

As well as reducing the number of collections, the vacuum system compacts waste at its central collecting point, saving space.

Earlier this year it was revealed the council is also considering proposals that would see all deliveries destined for Princes Street dropped off at a central depot on the edge of the city centre, where staff would put the shops' supplies on to one lorry to cut out duplicated journeys.

A council spokeswoman said: "We are investigating this innovative system for managing city-centre waste."