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| Fig. 1: Hammarby Sjöstad in 2006. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Stockholm's Hammarby Sj&oum;stad urban redevelopment project began in the 1990s. The project contains environmental goals that will affect nearly every aspect of life within the area. A few of these include "transportation: fast, attractive public transport, combined with carpool and beautiful cycle paths, in order to reduce private car usage", "energy: renewable fuels, biogas products and reuse of waste heat coupled with efficient energy consumption in buildings", and "waste: thoroughly sorted in practical systems, with material and energy recycling maximized wherever possible." [1] In order to make this project a success, the city brought together representatives from different departments of the city such as "planning, energy, waste, real estate, traffic, and water and sewage" and these representatives were lead by a manager and officer. [2]
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| Fig. 1: This is an example of an inlet in Hammarby Sjöstad. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Hammarby Sjöstad is located in Stockholm, Sweden and is a previous industrial site. Part of the plan for this development, created in 1997, is to accommodate 35,000 people through homes and jobs by the time the development is finished. [3,4] Within Hammerby Sjöstad there is use of green roofs, construction products that are environmentally friendly, and solar panels for a source of energy. This site currently has little potential to use renewable energy sources, so people have questioned how this new development would end up as sustainable as they want. The answer: The waste collection system. [3] It consists of underground vacuum suction chutes that take the waste to a collection station that divides the waste by type. [5]
Hammarby Sjöstad uses three levels of waste management: "building-based, block-based, and area-based." [1] Building-based consists of combustible, food, and newspaper wastes. The biggest sized items get divided into pieces and put into the different chutes. Block-based recycling rooms include things such as "glass, paper, plastic and metal packaging, bulky waste i.e. old furniture, electrical and electronic waste", and some rooms have space for textiles. Area-based waste are items that can be considered dangerous to the residents and visitors of Hammaryby Sjöstad and these will be burned or recycled once disposed of properly. [1]
There are two kinds of waste systems; the stationary system and the mobile system. The stationary system uses chutes that are vacuum suction controlled and are connected underground to a collection station. These will take the specified waste underground to where all other wastes of the same kind end up. The benefits of this system are reduction in transports, "which means the air is kept cleaner than when traditional refuse collection techniques are employed. In addition, the work environment for the refuse collection workers is improved when heavy lifting is avoided." [1] In a mobile system the trash is put into a chute like the stationary system. The only difference is when the trash is underground it is taken to a storage tank where a vehicle can attach to a vacuum system that pumps the trash into the vehicle. "The refuse collection vehicle stops at docking points where several buildings' waste tanks are emptied simultaneously, but only one fraction at a time per collection round." [1] While this waste collection system requires responsibility from the residents and people in Hammarby Sjöstad, it clears the streets of garbage trucks and dumpsters filled with trash. The air is cleaner without these garbage trucks and dumpsters on every block or outside of every building, which provides for a better living environment.
© Ty Montgomery. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] L. Fränne, "Hammarby Sjöstad - a Unique Environmental Project in Stockholm," GlashusEtt, June 2007.
[2] A. Baeumler, E Ljjasz-Vasquez, and S. Mehndiratta, Eds., Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China (World Bank Publications, 2012)
[3] H. Fraker, The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods: Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities (Island Press, 2013),p. 43.
[4] E. Kasioumi, "Sustainable Urbanism: Vision and Planning Process Through an Examination of Two Model Neighborhood Developments," Berkeley Planning Journal 24, 91 (2011).
[5] X. Hao, V. Novotny, and V. Nelson, Eds., Water Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities: China and the World (IWA Publishing, 2010).
