New technology in waste collection and disposal
Solid waste management for supermarkets and commercial establishments’ amount to millions of dollars but waste disposal cost can be defrayed through new technology and recycling. New collection methods that have been introduced in recent years include supermarket vacuum collection that automatically transports waste to a central terminal or treatment facility. This method is strongly suggested for supermarkets that generate large quantities of waste. Supermarket vacuum collection reduces the need for manual labor in the transport of garbage bags and bins of trash to compactors. The system also minimizes the need for conventional trash collection that can be very conspicuous when large amounts of trash are generated. The involvement of local trash collection is greatly diminished and the general appearance of the immediate environment is greatly improved.
How does the system of supermarket vacuum collection work?
The process of supermarket vacuum collection starts with the deposit of trash into intake hatches or what is commonly referred to as portholes that have been specifically built for waste recycling and compost. These portholes can be located in an area that has been specifically designated. Once there is a need to empty the portholes, a sensor will indicate that trash has to be transported through the underground pneumatic tubes to a collection system where it will be compacted and sealed in containers. However, it is important to ensure that only one kind of waste should travel the pipelines at a time so that it can be directed to proper containers. From there the waste is trucked to its final location which is the landfill composting plant. Close to a thousand vacuum collection systems are now operational all over the world and one of the most well known is Disney World.
The gravity-pneumatic type supermarket vacuum collection
In the gravity-pneumatic type system, waste materials are dropped without restrictions into a single door loading station with standard type gravity chutes. The system will automatically accept the trash that accumulates at the bottom of the chute through the intermittent opening of a specially designed slide-valve below the chute so that the materials will drop into the air stream of the transfer pipe below. This supermarket vacuum collection system can serve a large number of chutes in sequence at intervals of just 20 seconds. This system is particularly beneficial during peak hours where the most amount of waste is generated. While the initial costs of establishing this vacuum collection system can be quite high, the investment can be recovered from its long life expectancy, large transfer capacity and minimum power consumption.