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Amsterdam's Smart System of Underground Garbage Bins

By Rain Noe - October 6, 2020

in Urbanism

Amsterdam's city planners have devised a clever system for dealing with household garbage. Just a handful of neighborhoods use the traditional system, whereby trash is left in an outdoor bin to be picked up once a week; most neighborhoods, in contrast, have a system of sidewalk bins that feed into underground containers, and residents can dispose of their trash and recyclables (after sorting them, of course) in a piecemeal fashion.

Not Just Bikes

Depending on the neighborhood, some of these sidewalk trash bins have RFID readers. Residents are given free RFID cards that they use to touchlessly unlock the bins, allowing them to deposit trash. In other neighborhoods, no RFID cards are required.

Here's an example of what one of the bins looks like in action, as captured by the Not Just Bikes YouTube channel:

Not Just Bikes

The garbage bin is periodically hoisted out of the sidewalk by garbage trucks with crane arms, that then empty the containers:

Not Just Bikes

Keeping the garbage stored underground prevents vermin from getting into them; as wily as raccoons are, they're not good with using underground drilling equipment.

It's also a better system, I think, to carry one small bag of trash out whenever you leave the house, as opposed to letting a large bag full of trash fester for a week, then hauling that to the curb.

Here's NJB's explanation and demonstration of how the system works:

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Mike Nelson Pedde

4 years ago

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You don't think racoons are wily enough to steal an RFID card? Hah!!

Where we live (Canada) we're lucky to have both recycling and municipal composting. Combined with careful shopping we throw out maybe 3-4 small bags of garbage/year. We're always trying for less.

Mike.

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Paul Hendrikx

4 years ago

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Hi Rain this is a nationwide system we have all over the Netherlands and is in most municipalities only used for what we call "restafval" so called hard to recycle stuff and separate ones for glass. It indeed works great and is always a spectacular sight when one is emptied. Most households in the Netherlands have small roller containers (stored in your backyard) for green, plastic and cardboard waste. Roll them to the street in the evening and picked up early in the morning, that is the main system.

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Frank Borsboom

4 years ago

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Whenever I see these trucks pass by I imagine what it would be like for the guys driving it and operating the arm to explain their jobs on parties. Instead of a "garbage man", your a Robot Arm Operator! :D It doesn't get much better than that :D

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- Frank Eisenga
  
  Frank Borsboom
  
  4 years ago
  
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  This system is actually the standard in the entire Netherlands, not just Amsterdam. There are even areas where you do not pay a fixed fee per year for garbage collection. It is instead based on the amount of drops you do using your RFID card.
  The only drawback is when a bag gets stuck in the roller door or it malfunctions otherwise, most people tend to leave their bags next to it instead of lugging it back home. (That's what all the stickers on the thing are about)
  Another cool feature is that some of these feature a small door on the rear where you can drop small bits of trash in without needing an RFID card.
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