STOCKHOLM UNDERGROUND

I was recently in Stockholm for the Scandinavian Furniture Fair. It was an inspiring design event, rich with innovative products and carefully crafted wood details they are known for. But the most memorable take away from my visit was the vision of a thoughtfully curated city infrastructure. Stockholm is an eco-thinking place that prides itself on solving urban problems before they become urban crises. It occurred to me that the city’s infrastructure embodies the same thoughtful attention to detail as the products they make. Truly stewards of their city, they are focused on making improvements to the quality of life that they will pass to future generations. As a New Yorker who’s city’s crumbling urban infrastructure, dysfunctional transportation and dirty streets constantly disrupt life and work, I was eager to explore some of Stockholm’s successful initiatives. Following my visit I wrote a series of articles on Swedish infrastructure.

URBAN WASTE MANAGEMENT

No dumpsters, no noisy trash trucks clogging the streets and no foul odors. A waste management and disposal system called Envac operates entirely underground. During my four days in Stockholm, I spied only one piece of street trash, a bag of dog poo that was likely dropped by accident! Located conveniently along sidewalks and inside buildings, banks of attractively designed recycling stations accept your separated trash. Once deposited, a network of pneumatic tubes whisks your waste to conversion plants at the speed of 50 miles an hour. Upon reaching their individual destinations, organic waste gets converted to methane fuel, generic trash is incinerated to feed Stockholm’s district heating system, and paper, metal and glass are recycled.

Swedes claim that 99% of their waste is recycled or converted to another use. Some would debate that the conversion methods used, especially the high amount of energy required to incinerate trash, are not as efficient or ecological as claimed. Everyone agrees that recycling is the most efficient proven reuse method so there is an ongoing campaign to improve waste disposal methods and expand recycling opportunities.

Through the eyes of a New Yorker who picks her way around sidewalk discards and overfilled trash containers as I walk my city streets, I was greatly impressed with trash-less urban spaces. Regardless of the exact efficiency percentages the Swedes have attained to date, the significant improvements to the public realm and better quality of life they have accomplished, to reach zero trash initiatives are indisputable.