Roosevelt Island AVAC System – New York, New York - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

Roosevelt Island AVAC System

Manhattan, New York

On this island, you suck away your garbage via an elaborate pneumatic tube system. 

View all photos
User Submitted
User Submitted
It doesn't run itself. Anna Minster (Atlas Obscura User)
156
199
Related Stories
garbage

Video Wonder: Roosevelt Island's Trash Vacuum

One of only six in the U.S.
Tao Tao Holmes March 15, 2016
notes from the field

Notes From the Field: Roosevelt Island

Annetta Black June 18, 2013
Top Places in New York
La Plaza Cultural
La Plaza Cultural
New York, New York
Roosevelt Island Lighthouse
New York, New York
767 Third Avenue
New York, New York
 See All

Crisscrossing beneath Roosevelt Island is a complex series of tubes not found in a majority of cities.

No, it’s not a subway system, it’s the Roosevelt Island Automated Vacuum Collection system.

One of only six of its kind to be used in the USA (the other major one is in Disney World), this incredible feat of Swedish engineering whisks away the garbage of all 20,000 inhabitants at speeds of up to 60 mph.

Trash is sucked out of the homes of Roosevelt Islanders through large pipelines using a complex system of air valves. The center where the garbage ends up is clean, modern and efficient, operated by a handful of engineers who monitor the waste disposal system from a glass box perched above the action.

Know Before You Go

It's the gray building just north of the Motorgate parking garage.

pneumatic tubes retro-tech
Community Contributors
Oliver Hong
Added by
Oliver Hong
Annetta Black
dlc31723
Anna Minster
Mark Casey
Edited by
Annetta Black, dlc31723, Anna Minster, Mark Casey
Published
February 27, 2012
Edit this listing
Make an Edit Add Photos
Nearby
The Marriage of Money and Real Estate
0.12 miles
Roosevelt Island Octagon Tower
0.24 miles
Cherokee Apartments
0.36 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
The Marriage
New York, New York

The Marriage of Money and Real Estate

A sculptural commentary on capitalism pokes up from the East River.
New York, New York

Roosevelt Island Octagon Tower

A former insane asylum despised by Nelly Bly and Charles Dickens is now fashionable apartments.
Entrance to one of the buildings
New York, New York

Cherokee Apartments

This Upper East Side apartment co-op was designed as a tuberculosis sanitarium.
Queens, New York

The Noguchi Museum

A self-made museum in Queens, New York continues to display the work of a sculptor known for paving his own way.
Related Places
Prague, Czechia

Prague Pneumatic Post

The last municipal pneumatic post system in the world was in operation for over 100 years, and may run again.
Known as a "Zip Tube" this carries the book requests down to the stacks many floors below.
New York, New York

Pneumatic System of the New York Public Library

One of the last few places in Manhattan that employed a pneumatic systemic keeps it on display.
Photo taken on Obscura Day, April 9, 2011
Palo Alto, California

Pneumatic Tube System at Stanford University Hospital

Four miles of pipelines form the model of still-functioning retro-tech efficiency.
Vienna, Austria

Computer und Gaming Museum Wien

Housed in a former air raid shelter, this museum is dedicated to the history of computing and video games.
Appears in 1 List
Phyllis Diller
List

18 Places to Discover Innovation in Roosevelt Island and NYC

The story of the city that never sleeps is inscribed with a past full of technological innovation, engineering wonders, and scientific discoveries.
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web