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 Every morning at coffee we must stop talking for a minute while the diesel garbage truck groans up the hill, spewing smoke and leaving a trail of rotten organic molecules. (Otherwise a nice cafe though.)
@robpike @helenczerski @davidho I just recently realised some of our garbage trucks are electric now. Because I heard the sound of bins being emptied, but the house didn't shake before and after to the droning sound of a diesel engine! 🤯
(our street has blocks of flats on both sides which seem to be the perfect distance apart to resonate with low frequency sounds of car and truck engines 🙄 )