Goodbye wheelie bins and rubbish trucks.
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Underground pipes replace bins
An automated waste collection system uses underground pipes and air to push rubbish at up to 70km/hr.
Rubbish will be sucked underground automatically by vacuumed air and sucked through a 6.5 kilometre network of underground pipes at 70 kilometres an hour.
Roadside wheelie bins will be replaced by waste inlets and rubbish trucks replaced by fast-moving automated suctions of air.
![Australia's first-ever underground waste inlets replacing wheelie bins in SunCentral Maroochydore.](/web/20160922064422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/k/p/0/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grknop.png/1474515344261.jpg)
Maroochydore will be the first city in Australia to unveil the automatic underground pneumatic waste system, which is already in place in Stockholm, Seoul, Barcelona, London, Singapore and Beijing.
The Sunshine Coast Council is progressively redeveloping a 53-hectare section of Maroochydore's central business district into a $350 million new age CBD called SunCentral.
Rubbish from the commercial buildings and apartments in SunCentral will go underground in the automated waste collection service.
More than 450 units are included in stage one of the SunCentral project.
![Australia's first-ever underground pneumatic waste system has been suggested for the Queens Wharf project in Brisbane.](/web/20160922064422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/k/p/0/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grknop.png/1474515344261.jpg)
And new "waste inlets" to the underground storage will replace conventional rubbish bins in SunCentral's streets.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk formally started stage one of SunCentral in February 2016, and it remains a key economic driver for the Sunshine Coast region, adding $2.3 billion to the Queensland economy over 20 years.
![An artist impression of SunCentral at Maroochydore.](/web/20160922064422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/k/v/2/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grknop.png/1474515344261.jpg)
Today the Sunshine Coast Council will announce Swedish firm Envac has won the $21 million contract to progressively provide the new age, waste collection centre for Maroochydore.
Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson said the waste system would be installed in stages over the coming decade.
![New 'waste inlets' replacing wheelie bins in Maroochydore.](/web/20160922064422im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/k/p/0/c/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grknop.png/1474515344261.jpg)
It will make the 53-hectare Maroochydore City Centre one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the country, he said.
"The rubbish revolution means that city workers and residents will never have to walk past rows of wheelie bins or be woken early by noisy garbage trucks in the Maroochydore City Centre," Cr Jamieson said.
"Odours and vermin will be avoided, and the costs of daily street cleaning will be reduced," he said.
Cr Jamieson said he was proud that Maroochydore was the first Australian city to use the underground waste service.
"New urban developments in Stockholm, Seoul, Barcelona, London, Singapore and Beijing have all utilised the Swedish-designed Envac waste collection system," he said.
"But no Australian city has done so - until now."
The $21 million cost will be recovered from Sun Central's tenants over the life of the SunCentral project, Cr Jamieson said.
What it includes and how it works
- Each building will have a series of three waste inlets;
- They will be separated out into organic; recyclable and general wastes;
- Waste dropped into each inlet is stored in a sealed compartment below ground;
- The vacuum pump is "activated" twice a day to drawn waste from underground containers to a central facility;
- The waste is stored in sealed compactors;
- The waste is finally taken to landfill and recycling agencies by council's contractor.
Envac Asia Region President Chun Yong Ha flew to Maroochydore from Seoul, South Korea, to join Mayor Jamieson in announcing the company's first Australian contract.
Mayor Jamieson inspected the Envac facilities when he was in Seoul in May this year, where he progressed discussions with Mr Ha about Envac's waste technology.
Mr Ha said Envac wanted to be involved with the regeneration of Maroochydore's new SunCentral.
"Our systems are becoming increasingly popular across the Asia-Pacific region and we are delighted the Maroochydore CBD will be our first Australian customer," Mr Ha said.
"The Sunshine Coast is a beautiful part of Australia and our system will help it stay that way by increasing recycling as well as cutting emissions, and reducing safety risks associated with manual garbage collection."
SunCentral Maroochydore chief executive John Knaggs said waste inlets would replace overflowing bins in SunCentral streets.
SunCentral is being built on the site of the old the Horton Park Golf Course, which has been shifted to a new site across the Maroochy River.
"Envac's technology can be installed because we are building on an undeveloped, greenfield site within an existing urban area – and that has many other benefits," he said.
Mr Knaggs said SunCentral was planning a high-speed fibre optic network into the city's very foundations and would use real time transport information, movement sensors and smart lighting.
He said SunCentral would create 5000 jobs by 2020.
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