I live in Almere, a city near Amsterdam and the Swedish ENVAC system was installed like 15 to 20 years ago over here. Not only do we not have a garbage day, we also do not have garbage trucks in the city centre. All trash is transported via underground tubes using high pressure air. It's used for public trash containers but it's also embedded in the apartment buildings in the city centre. So for me, the container is inside the building, next to the indoor bicycle parking. Very convenient:-) Almere was the first city in The Netherlands installing this system. Arnhem followed and Amsterdam was thinking of applying it as well but I have no idea what happened to that idea. Here's a video about this system: ruclips.net/video/OaP4sUNZdeA/видео.htmlfeature=shared
Here in Spain, garbage is collected every day, and the cities are cleaned with pressurized water and mechanical brushing every night. Underground containers and recycling containers are emptied every two or three days. Oh, and we take the garbage to the containers at night, to avoid unpleasant smells on the street. No one I know stores trash in their house for more than 24 hours.
@@Whats-a-Chidi The streets are the visible face of any urban center and speak a lot about society. Any place where many people circulate must always be clean, for aesthetics, health, and for something even more important: the well-being of the citizens. In Spain we live a lot on the streets and we like to see them clean, just as we also like to see public buildings and parks clean. We are also a highly visited country, so the garbage that we can produce is added to that produced by visitors. In 2023, 126 million tourists visited us, while there are 48 and a half million of us, so imagine if we didn't take cleanliness seriously...
i lima peru too.... and there are a lot of private people collectling all sorts of waste too... but there are no trash cans in the streets and that is a big problem... i lived in a small street with 1 school and 2 kindergarten in it and every day the street was full of waste from the kids... if not the people in the street looked after it, after 1 month you could have looked into the second floor... because the school or the kindergarten did nothing and thats not correct...
But not in every city though. Some cities use both systems. The underground system dedicated to a huge appartment Block end normal bins for the rest of the city.
@@almanoor-bakker5964I live in a smallish village, in an apartment building. We have both in our village. Normal houses have trash cans, apartments have the underground trash collector. But it is not free, I have to open it with a card and then get a bill at the end of the year for each time I have used it.
This kind of garbage collection is usually seen in city centers where is not a lot of room to maneuver the carbage trucks. In my neighbourhood and town we still have the garbage bins. Collected fortnightly. 1 week the vegetables, fruit and garden waste in the green bin and the other week the grey bin for the rest, also once every 6 weeks another grey bin for paper.
In Spain we have big containers that are emptied every night by this same method, and every morning streets are cleaned by small vans with pressurized waterwith disimfectant and rotating brushes. Those vans work all day in some places.
I found Spain to be very tidy. Also, much care was put into all the little parks and flower displays (like the ones on roundabouts). Even during very hot summer days, they were watered, and the dead leaves were taken out. This was everywhere in the country, including in the Baleares and the Canary Islands.
@@carmenl163 - It's basically the same here in Portugal, especially the roundabouts. We have so many that most towns/cities take much pride in keeping them always beautiful. 🙂
@@module79l28 I'll take your word for it, as I haven't traveled around much in Portugal. I've only been to Lisbon and Porto. I'd love to go back to Lisbon one day. It is such a beautiful city and the people are so welcoming and lovely.
In Denmark where I lived they have the same system. And in Toscana (Pisa) here, they do it similarly - even though the containers are not underneath, but emptied the same way.
Heh, underground bins... In Bergen, Norway they use a vacuum system and the "bins" just lead to it. All bags get sucked to the central automatically. No need for garbage trucks to come collect anything.
This is mainly a city solution. In most towns and villages (like mine) there’s still a garbage day. Some cities use both systems: underground containers for the densely parts and garbage day for the more sprawled parts of the city.
In the UK we have big houses that have been converted into multiple, very small flats and each flat has to have its own complement of bins - they can't share them for some reason. This means they have to be stored somewhere and, come bin day, the pavements are sometimes so full of bins that there's nowhere to walk.
These are everywhere in the Netherlands where there are apartment complexes. Regular houses get the bins and garbage day, same as he showed as in Canada. We just don't have big animals trying to get into them...
@@gertstraatenvander4684 I have never had a cat, dog or bird (or any animal for that matter) try to lift up the lid of one of our trash cans. Those lids are HEAVY, idk what powerlifters of animals you have in your city but my cat is definitely not that strong
I needn't worry when to take the trash out either. We have big containers for our apartment blocks which are locked and can only be opened with the house keys. The communal caretaker pulls the containers out when the collection is due. As I live in Germany there are different containers as we seperate our trash.😊
We don't have garbage days in this sense either. The housing complexes have large communal bins which are collected once a week, on whatever day you've scheduled it for, and we just drop our rubbish into it on our way to work or whatever, and the truck empties it sometime in the afternoon. No wheeling anything. Our large bin lives in a locked "shed" of sorts and serves six households, but the same applies to single family homes.
It’s not 100% foolproof. Some ppl will throw stuff on the street anyways. Like ppl biking without lights in the dark even though we have battery lights now. Ppl leave big items at the side because they don’t fit, and can’t be bothered to care. Someone’ll clean it up eventually, right? My dear old mum once dropped her entire purse in a container. Police officer helping her was very gracious about it :) But as a thing in itself, it’s very, very nice. As long as they get emptied in time.
We have big garbage containers like this in the 2nd largest city in Romania as well. They are usually positioned to serve multiple buildings and once a week a truck comes and takes them out.
@@alexia2189 so the smell continues… is calculated how much should go in without making problems ! Like smell and in Romania 🇷🇴 the weather is warmer so that will cause more problems and the truck must be more heavy ( more noise) and the street suffers more ! It’s just a matter of facts and calculations!
There are a lot, on all EU. And no, they are not forbidden at EU level, there's a policy to reduce over the years. Some countries do like Germany, Nerherlands, Denmark and Sweden. But they are the minority. Incinerators also have their issues, so some countries are still reluctant...
They've all been buried and built on top off. That is what used to happen. Now most of it is recycled or burned. The EU forbids new landfills from being opened I think, as well as the limitations other have mentioned.
One addition tho: these streetbins can only be opened with a pass, that all residents get. The pass gives you acces to the bin closest to your home (so not to all of them). And you are right, this system wont work if you have to drive to the location. Thats why they are all around, so people can walk to them. Edit: apparently in some parts of Amsterdam you dont need a pas.
@gerrylanter8109 Amsterdam werkt zeker ook wel met afvalpassen, die kun je gewoon aanvragen bij de gemeente. Misschien in bepaalde delen niet (geen idee waarom), maar onbekend is het ZEKER niet in A'dam 👍
Passen werken op alle containers, niet die alleen bij je op hoek vd straat ! Sterker nog: alle passen met n chip zoals bankpas, OV kaart, school/studentenpas, etc zijn in staat om de afvalbak te openen.
Yea, that's pretty genius and the way forward - here in Portugal we do a similar thing but it's not stored underground. Dotted around are large dump bins for metal, glass, plastic and general non recyclable trash. So you just take it to one of those. Hassle free as long as you have space in the back of your car to drop it off. Then the vans are on a rota to empty them. But it is of course much more efficient than a van stopping at virtually every house. Obviosly they try to place this large communal bins somewhere both convenient and non intrusive for the residents.
The big truck you see at 4:45 and 6:30 is for oversized garbage only, for example furniture you don't need anymore. You have to make an appointment, and the community will pick it up for free. As an alternative, we have waste collection stations, where you can bring various types garbage for free as well.
In the part of England where I live we have 4 rubbish/trash bins in our yard. One for general waste, one for paper and cardboard, one for glass/plastic bottles, drink and food cans and one for garden waste such as grass cuttings shrub cuttings and food waste. Each garbage bin is emptied alternately every 3 weeks
In Finland we have similar underground system but it's like in every block/group of houses. Those houses all use same recycling bins and then share the cost of emptying them. If you don't live in the city, you often have trash can by the road on it's own "hut" all the time and trash is collected from there by schedule without you moving it back and forth. Though living there you probably take special things like glass, metal etc. to the communal sorting station in the town when driving by it and only the basic trash is collected.
Feel like it would be nice if you mentioned who the video is from and left at least a link to their chanel in the description, so the chanel gets the recognition they deserve and people can watch more if theyre interested.
In Mazovia (near central Pl) we got garbage "takout" once every two weeks. We sort trash into special bags and store them in special " garbage huts" in villages. Mostly just near the gates of each garden. We drag these bags and bins to outer sides of fences for garbage people to take them away. Sometimes strays, mice etc get into bags but not often.
I first spotted this when visiting our office in Slotervaart, near the airport. I noticed the communal bins when walking through a neighbourhood to the tram. "What a good idea" I thought. back here in Cardiff we don't have to worry about racoons, but our seagulls are quite ingenious! Food waste is sealed in brown boxes, before being collected for digestion. Glass is now in a blue box. fortnightly alternate collections of garden and general, but recyclables & food every week.
I live in Dordrecht The Netherlands and we have these underground containers too. Plastics are picked up every week you just use the special garbage bags and hang them on a lamp post (with dedicated hooks attached to the posts), paper fortnightly through dedicated bins. Works great. Oversized waste will be picked up after a call to the city waste recycling service or can be dropped off at their recycling station.
We have these in Poland now too, and they're brilliant! We never had a garbage day in our city anyway, because you'd take the trash to a little pen with a dozen humongous bins, but now we got the underground trash and I love it. The variety in my neighborhood is a bit more low-tech - it uses these enormous black weave bags instead of solid metal cans, but it works exactly the same way. Every day or two a big-ass truck comes by, empties one type of bins, and goes on its merry way. One downside of this system that I've noticed is that it's very reliant on good management - if the trash company misses pickups or your administration skimps on capacity, you end up with a mound of trash growing around the inlets.
It's funny how this seems normal to me (I live in the Netherlands), but now that I think about it, yeah pretty great compared to most countries. There's also drawbacks to this system: The underground containers get stuck regularly due to inconsiderate people putting in larger bags than allowed. Which means it can no longer be used > trash gets put on the side > wildlife gets in there > etc...
It also makes recycling a lot easier. Besides the generic garbage in these containers. We also have them for glass etc. These can usually be found near supermarkets. So when you go shopping you can also get rid of your recycling. And its all underground so it takes up less space and smells less.
I live near the 9 straatjes and we still have garbage day, two times a week. There are containers, but not in every street and they get full very very quickly.
I already knew - and appreciated - the video, but the expressions on your face were another bonus. Although we do have trash-rats, crows, seagulls etc. Or people who can’t be bothered and just throw their bags on the street beside the collector. Not to mention an enormously differentiated ‘landfill’ site, where nothing ends in a general landfill, but everything has its place, from your AA penlight to chemicals, your coffeemaker, treated wood, untreated wood, or your mattress. Fascinating system.
Garbage day used to be a topic in The Netherlands too. Especially in cities, these underground containers are common, but nog for every type of waste. I live in Utrecht and there is still a garbage day for paper and compost. I have to bring out glass bottles and other waste.
I think these bins are mostly used in cities. They started to use this system in my city in 2001. I remember that well because we were renovating. ‘Our’ underground bin was less than 50 metres from our house which was extremely convenient. The system has been upgraded, so the municipality knows which bin is almost full so they can adjust the routes. So it hardly ever happens that I have to take my trash back home. And when it does, I can dispose it the next day. Great system, especially in densely populated areas, which there are a lot of in the Netherlands. Btw, it works with a household pas, which is valid for every bin in your neighborhood so it’s not possible for people from elsewhere to dump their trash everywhere, and when the closest bin is full, you can always try another one, unless you’re lazy like me.
I live in a building in Ireland, and while I know there's a trash day, I don't have to worry about it because the building has a set of communal dumpsters for recycling, glass, and rubbish. I just put everything in the appropriate dumpster. The downside is that sometimes some of my neighbours have a lot of recycling and/or rubbish, and the dumpsters might be full, but that's typically just a matter of waiting a day or so. Newer buildings have small sheds or enclosures for storing the bins. Thankfully urban foxes don't have the manual dexterity of trash pandas, so it's mainly to protect them from the wind.
In most city here in the Netherlands, we have both. The underground containers for most of the trash and for people that dont have their own bin, but there are also garbage days too for the people who do still have their own bin.
Where we live in france in our city it’s like this underground garbage container for each of 4 apartments complexes and one for each of the street in housing areas. This way nowadays city is so clean and green without garbage all over the places except when collectors where on strike but that was just one week for what like last 10 yrs
You'll also save on other costs because of the sensor in those containers, the trucks only come to busy area's or those that are (nearly) full, which saves gas and I'm sure also personnel. And not to mention time. This is a really common solution in Europe, many countries offer this especially in cities it's a must. If you're in an apartment it's a must because you won't have to worry about your garbage attracting flies because it can't last until next week. I sort of assumed this would be everywhere in America too. It's a really good system.
its the same here in the south we all have those underground depo's.. we also have Special bins for plastic and for cardboard aswel.. in some neighbourhoods we still have those trash bins but mostly has the underground
Underground containers are being rolled out slowly in the Netherlands. Currently my town (55.000) is in the process of replacing rolling containers with underground. (I got one for my appartment building last year) While Amsterdam has had them for over 10 years now. So, it's like the roads: whenever they need maintanance, they're modernised and upgraded to ever increasing standards. Note: the only raccoons in the Netherlands live in the zoo.
"Note: the only raccoons in the Netherlands live in the zoo." Not quite, there are some feral ones in (Zuid) Limburg. Most are coming in by themselves from Germany.
My city, Hoorn (north of Amsterdam), is also due to have underground bins next year. Placing them in the area with the late Middle Ages houses is a bit of a challenge. They are still unsure how to do that, but they are starting anyway with the rest of us. As I live in a small house in the city center with no garden, I'm really looking forward to it.
Another benefit is that when your bin is full you take it to the underground container. This has an anti vermin effect( mice rats) waste is never stored on balconies or in the appartements immediately put underground.
At the other end of the spectrum comes Lisbon (at least when I lived there). In Portugal's capital, every day (except Sunday) is garbage day. Yes, in the central areas of the city, there's collection every night.
Every day in Amsterdam is garbage day! In more ways than one... Greetings from Rotterdam. What I dearly miss are the large-garbage collection days (grofvuil) in the Netherlands; these days you are to bring large items to the recycling center or call the guys for pickup on a specific date, but in the past you would put your old fridges, furniture and whatnot at the curb on a specific day (typically once a month or once every 2 weeks). For kids, that was scavenging day! A discarded baby carriage would be the jackpot, the wheels being useful for making a soapbox cart, but you'd find a lot of other interesting stuff. Old electronics, wood to be used for projects, or just stuff to blow up with firecrackers. Oh, to grow up in the 70s was a rare privilege.
I live in the province of Québec. Our bins are also picked up on alternating fortnights, recycling and composting one week and all the rest the next week. It's not complicated. And there's so little left that is non recyclable or compostable that I only need to take the grey (garbage) bin to the kerb every 4, 5 or 6 months.
In my block in Gothenburg, Sweden we have a suction system for garbage with several locked (bc only for us living here) drop chutes with pipes bringing it to one place. Beside that there are containers for recycling of glass, paper, plastics, metal and batteries.
I live in a block in Oslo, Norway, and our suction system was installed when they built the blocks in 1991. Works great. No overflowing bins to worry about. :O)
It's the same system in Barcelona. Trash bins are located every city block, not underground mind you, but basically the same size as the ones you see in that clip. Trash day is everyday...you never keep garbage very long in your house, and can dispose of it every day. Trucks designed to empty the containers pass every other day.
I used to have an underground trash container, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. The distance was further than 50 meters and when bags are heavy it can be hard to carry them. Also when they are full or the lid is stuck people leave their trash next to it. Meaning it will smell and animals will cut open the bag looking for a meal. I have a container now and much prefer it
German solution - the trashcan user can order a trashcan with a installed lock and key (also a NFC device), the garbage collection truck has a electric device wich can unlock the trashcan via NFC. Large appartment buildings also have underground solutions wich are called Müllschlucker (garbage chute).
Here in Portugal we have recycling and common garbage containers every 200 meters for years. It's not a thing for us. We just bring our one or two day bags of garbage when going to work and leave it in whatever container we find along the way. Easy and convenient.
I miss the old nets along biking paths you could throw garbage in without stopping. There was one close to my house here in Amsterdam but they removed it because people can't aim and it's a hassle to clean. I think they still have some in less populated areas. I grew up around a lot of farms and they had so many of those nets.
There's actually rules about how far the furthest udnerground trash container is allowed to be (in a neighborhood with underground trash containers ofc). I think it's about 100-150 meters. This is to keep things accessible for everyone (and because we acknowledge that noone is going to take a stroll just to throw away the trash) In my neighborhood, we have underground containers for paper, plastics, and garbage. The paper and plastics are free, but the garbage you pay for every time you open the lid (you use a card with a chip to open it). We have containers or wheely bins (?) for greenery trash, which is picked up every 2 weeks.
I'm French and I've never heard of the concept of garbage day. They're collected every day. Except for bulky items, which are collected once a week, but it's not a service you need on a daily basis
I lived in Ocala, FL. No Garbage Collection at all! 😅People are supposed to bring their trash to the Landfill themselves (but often dump it in the woods and/or burn it 🙁) There are, however, a few local guys that offer a pickup service.
These underground containers are not common everywhere in the Netherlands. More and more cities are using them, but in little villages and especially in areas where few people live, the normal trashcan and Garbidge Day are still in place. I live in a small city of around 39,000 inhabitants. Not all neighbourhoods have underground garbage containers. Trashcans and Garbidge Day still exist here as well. In my neighbourhood, we do have underground containers. There are enough for the whole neighbourhood. They are of the "clever" type. When the garbidge reaches a certain level, the city garbidge department is automatically notified. Within one working day, a truck is dispatched to empty the container.
There still is garbage day in the Netherlands, it's not like that everywhere (yet?) In my building there's a garbage room with big containers for regulare trash and for paper. These containers are emptied once or twice a week. My brother still has to put out a bin but you have to bring it to a pickup point on the corner of the street. But these underground containers are pretty much everywhere.
It would work in AMERICAN CITIES, I have lived in AMSTERDAM, And the one thing they are very hot on is recycling. You get used to taking your bottles and cans to the supermarket,,,, you dispose of your trash this way ,,you get a ticket and when you’re paying for your shopping,,you get a generous amount of your bill. ✌✌✌💰💰💰❤❤❤
Ehm, SOME are very hot on recycling, but most are not. Ive been a garbageman in the past, and saw myself that everything at the end still ends up on one pile, even when the people had to seperate it before that. Glas is something most do seperate, but paper ends up in the bin (by far the most). And we bring the bottles and cans back to the supermarket because we pay a deposit, that we get back when you hand em in to the supermarkets again. By far the most do this for the money, not for the environment 👍
In Spain, where I live now, the trash is collected every night!! There are plenty of big, heavy (and ugly) trasholders on the streets available for everyone. Even bigger items can be left on the streets to be collected. In Alicante you just have to give a call to the administration office so that they know what to expect. No extra charge. Love it!
Througout the country (Netherlands) the underground bins are coming more and more. But... They are not so open anymore in most cases. Most are "tag/card checked". Sometimes because you will be charged per bag (the way households get charged for garbage differs per city: sometimes a fixed yearly fee, sometimes per use, sometimes a combination), but at least to prevent little kids from getting inside unnoticed and getting in life threatening trouble
We have those underground things in France, too. The problems: some people are too stupid to use them (they clog the chutes by putting too large bags inside) and in Summer, it smells.
This is really fun video for you, if you already wanna see how tall the Dutch are! 😁 See how this 193cm Korean guy experienced the Netherlands! 👌🏼✌🏼 It's with English subtitles! 청춘이다 One’s Youth (ENG) 193cm 한국인 네덜란드에 가면 생기는 일 🇳🇱 ruclips.net/video/_pcuU7j12pE/видео.htmlsi=JtY2pykZFP651o0R
It’s a great system for regular waste. Particularly if it’s free (via city tax) because you can than also chuck out waste lying around in the streets. In some cities you have to have a pass or pay per “dump”. Glad we don’t have that where I live. I’m less enthusiastic about the underground recycling bins. They are fewer and so it seems often overflowing. I live in the city centre. Businesses have the tendency to illegally dump their recyclables in those bins, and a great many households are dependent on those bins.
A low budget solution for more rural areas is a ring with hooks on a lamp post. People can hang a full garbage bag, keeping it off the ground and away from rats. There are no raccoons in the Netherlands, we have other critters that can be a pain, so this doesn't work everywhere. Many of the underground containers are only accessible with a card, so only those who pay the garbage tax can use them. This is to prevent people from outside the area from filling up the container. It used to be a real issue in some neighbourhoods. Some containers have a side access for small trash or there is a general bin close by, but neither will fit a bag for the same reason as the access card. This is less time consuming and way less congestive. You'll realise when you are in Amsterdam that streets are super narrow, especially in older areas. A stopped truck means nobody is getting past. When using the underground containers, a truck needs to stop at a designated spot, which can be out of the flow of traffic. There is also much less starting and stopping, which is the most polluting. In my neighbourhood, the garbage truck takes maybe 10 minutes emptying four containers and it is gone. In more spread out neighbourhoods, this doesn't always work because of the distance to the container. The best place to use these are next to apartment buildings. Lots of people using the same exit, walking right past the bins.
I'm from Sweden and we don't have garbage day either - at least not in the cities. There might be if you live in a villa, I don't know how that works. But in the cities we either have a system similar to the one in this video where you throw your trash in underground containers or we have a room in the apartment building where you throw it.
In Madrid Spain in my neighborhood there is a neumatic device o vacumm to shoot the garbage thought pipes so we only have few trucks for the big staff and are daily
Where I live in London we have these pod things that you put your rubbish in and then it gets sucked through underground tunnels to a central location where bin lorries come and pick them up. It's called envac
The Netherlands still has garbage days. These underground trash containers are usually installed in cities for apartments. Because then there'd be too many people to collect trash from, so they get a collective trash container. I will say though... these things suck. People are always dumping their trashbags next to it, because it wouldn't fit or it was full, but will also dump other trash items near it like a couch of a closet. These containers are meant for the people living in the apartments, but people will drive up to it from another neighbourhood and dump their own trash in it, making the apartment residents complain that their container is always full. Some places have a card you must scan to open up the container so that only apartment residents can use it, but then you face the issue of people simply dumping the trash right next to it. The suburbs in the Netherlands, so people with a house, will have their own garbage bin (several, in fact), and will have to put them out on the street on garbage day. So please don't misunderstand it's like this everywhere; it's only for apartments. That said, we do have recycling containers for suburbs as well (which you can see at 4:04), which is only for cardboard/paper and glass.
There were some reasons to go for this system. One of them is that in many places in Amsterdam people lie in small appartments without gardens, and especially in summer keeping the garbage in was unhealthy and uncomfortable, especially if you're not so disciplined or are away often. And we have no spce for big containers, nor in the house, nor in the street. In some neighbourhoods the trashman came two times a week because of this. The reason to speed up the process was that the seagulls here learned from the raccoons or vice versa. Early in the morning the beasts ripped open the garbage bags and spread all the stuff over the street. Within a few years most neigborhoods ad underground trash containers.
I live in Haarlem, 20km west of Amsterdam. We also have underground garbage containers, for me its around 50 meters. I think people further up in the street are max 100 meters away from it. Containers for paper and glass are a bit wider spread, i estimate around 300 meters from my home. The paper and glass container are always open, the garbage one is locked and can be opened with a card ever household gets. My card can only open the container closest to me. I dont know if its being logged how often i dump something in it. We pay a yearly garbage tax and no matter how much you dump, we all pay the same. But it would not surprise me if we get taxed more if we dump more in the future.
I think this system can be found all over Europe in cities at least. We have the same here in Switzerland, for regular garbage, glass and organic garbage. For some reason, paper and carton still have a designated day though.
These underground containers are in many, densely populated areas in the Netherlands. The rest of the country has garbage day. Our standardized 'kliko' bins aren't raccoon proof, but then again, we don't have raccoons. I know for a fact my dog will tip one over if I put his bones in there. Now. There is a bit of a caveat to this underground solution, because people stack their trash next to it once the container is full. Not only that, but people will put their 'grofvuil', so large trash next to it. Chairs, fridges, microwaves, beds, that sort of thing.
Yeah as someone living in Amsterdam. You still have garbage day. Parts of the city, such as the city center, do not have underground containers. So you put yhe garbage out of garbage day. Plus the containers get emptied on certain days. Then they will also take stuff that doesn't fit in the containers.
Welcome to the Netherlands this summer, and greetings from a medium sized Dutch city near Amsterdam, where we have the same underground containers. I think that now this is most common system around the whole country. The containers shown here in Amsterdam, can be opened by anyone. That is a good strategy. But in other cities, as in mine, we have underground containers that you need a pass for to open. This is to avoid people from other areas dumping stuff in yours, and fill it up too soon. But since this system is now so widespread, there is hardly a reason to keep them pass-locked. I know that when the containers were first introduced (±15 years ago), that there were ideas to use the same pass-system to also weigh the stuff you drop in the container, and charge you accordingly, or when you cross a certain threshold, through the same pass-system. It may be in use in some other cities, I don't know. But the whole idea of your trash being 'checked' does not feel good, and mechanically it would be an extra point of failure in the containers. Like you said, this is easier to imagine in more dense populated areas. In countries with much more rural regions things are different. When I was In Ireland, you have to bring your own trash to the dump in your region, and you need a car to get there. At the dump your car is weighed, some paper, plastics and glass can be dumped for free to be recycled, and the rest is just piled up in a reserved wasteland. When leaving the dump your car is weighed again, and you pay for what you dumped. The costs of maintaining the dump are paid for by the profit from the recyclable stuff, but with an ever growing wasteland from the unusable rest, this is not sustainable.
![Ice On My Teeth - ATEEZ エイティーズ 에이티즈 [Music Bank] | KBS WORLD TV 241115](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/c-n92OgbbwA/mqdefault.jpg)
I live in Almere, a city near Amsterdam and the Swedish ENVAC system was installed like 15 to 20 years ago over here. Not only do we not have a garbage day, we also do not have garbage trucks in the city centre. All trash is transported via underground tubes using high pressure air. It's used for public trash containers but it's also embedded in the apartment buildings in the city centre. So for me, the container is inside the building, next to the indoor bicycle parking. Very convenient:-) Almere was the first city in The Netherlands installing this system. Arnhem followed and Amsterdam was thinking of applying it as well but I have no idea what happened to that idea.
Here's a video about this system: ruclips.net/video/OaP4sUNZdeA/видео.htmlfeature=shared
How often does the trash get stuck?
Here in Spain, garbage is collected every day, and the cities are cleaned with pressurized water and mechanical brushing every night. Underground containers and recycling containers are emptied every two or three days. Oh, and we take the garbage to the containers at night, to avoid unpleasant smells on the street. No one I know stores trash in their house for more than 24 hours.
same in London in the English Reich
My mum lives in Spain. It's crazy how clean it is there because of that, well, at least on the streets
@@Whats-a-Chidi The streets are the visible face of any urban center and speak a lot about society. Any place where many people circulate must always be clean, for aesthetics, health, and for something even more important: the well-being of the citizens. In Spain we live a lot on the streets and we like to see them clean, just as we also like to see public buildings and parks clean. We are also a highly visited country, so the garbage that we can produce is added to that produced by visitors. In 2023, 126 million tourists visited us, while there are 48 and a half million of us, so imagine if we didn't take cleanliness seriously...
i lima peru too.... and there are a lot of private people collectling all sorts of waste too... but there are no trash cans in the streets and that is a big problem... i lived in a small street with 1 school and 2 kindergarten in it and every day the street was full of waste from the kids... if not the people in the street looked after it, after 1 month you could have looked into the second floor... because the school or the kindergarten did nothing and thats not correct...
iba a decir lo mismo 😅
You'll find this all over the Netherlands, not just Amsterdam.
Only in cities, though. More rural areas do have trash cans.
But not in every city though. Some cities use both systems. The underground system dedicated to a huge appartment Block end normal bins for the rest of the city.
@@almanoor-bakker5964I live in a smallish village, in an apartment building. We have both in our village. Normal houses have trash cans, apartments have the underground trash collector. But it is not free, I have to open it with a card and then get a bill at the end of the year for each time I have used it.
You'll find that all over Europe not only in the Netherlands , it started in Finland and Portugal in 1990s
True in my city they do both indeed @@joyceschouten8727
This kind of garbage collection is usually seen in city centers where is not a lot of room to maneuver the carbage trucks. In my neighbourhood and town we still have the garbage bins. Collected fortnightly. 1 week the vegetables, fruit and garden waste in the green bin and the other week the grey bin for the rest, also once every 6 weeks another grey bin for paper.
In Spain we have big containers that are emptied every night by this same method, and every morning streets are cleaned by small vans with pressurized waterwith disimfectant and rotating brushes.
Those vans work all day in some places.
I found Spain to be very tidy. Also, much care was put into all the little parks and flower displays (like the ones on roundabouts). Even during very hot summer days, they were watered, and the dead leaves were taken out. This was everywhere in the country, including in the Baleares and the Canary Islands.
@@carmenl163 - It's basically the same here in Portugal, especially the roundabouts. We have so many that most towns/cities take much pride in keeping them always beautiful. 🙂
@@module79l28 I'll take your word for it, as I haven't traveled around much in Portugal. I've only been to Lisbon and Porto. I'd love to go back to Lisbon one day. It is such a beautiful city and the people are so welcoming and lovely.
In Denmark where I lived they have the same system. And in Toscana (Pisa) here, they do it similarly - even though the containers are not underneath, but emptied the same way.
Heh, underground bins... In Bergen, Norway they use a vacuum system and the "bins" just lead to it. All bags get sucked to the central automatically. No need for garbage trucks to come collect anything.
This is mainly a city solution. In most towns and villages (like mine) there’s still a garbage day. Some cities use both systems: underground containers for the densely parts and garbage day for the more sprawled parts of the city.
This is almost everywhere in the country, well at least in the cities here in the Netherlands. 'Rural' area's still have trash days.
In the UK we have big houses that have been converted into multiple, very small flats and each flat has to have its own complement of bins - they can't share them for some reason. This means they have to be stored somewhere and, come bin day, the pavements are sometimes so full of bins that there's nowhere to walk.
These are everywhere in the Netherlands where there are apartment complexes. Regular houses get the bins and garbage day, same as he showed as in Canada. We just don't have big animals trying to get into them...
No big animals, but seagulls are just as effective. 😂
Cats and dogs though.
@@gertstraatenvander4684 I have never had a cat, dog or bird (or any animal for that matter) try to lift up the lid of one of our trash cans. Those lids are HEAVY, idk what powerlifters of animals you have in your city but my cat is definitely not that strong
Not all cities in the Netherlands have this. Where I live we still have garbage day. No trash pandas though. 🦝😅
No garbage day in Málaga either.
Joel has brilliant timing reacting to the video on Garbage Day.
I needn't worry when to take the trash out either. We have big containers for our apartment blocks which are locked and can only be opened with the house keys.
The communal caretaker pulls the containers out when the collection is due.
As I live in Germany there are different containers as we seperate our trash.😊
We don't have garbage days in this sense either. The housing complexes have large communal bins which are collected once a week, on whatever day you've scheduled it for, and we just drop our rubbish into it on our way to work or whatever, and the truck empties it sometime in the afternoon. No wheeling anything. Our large bin lives in a locked "shed" of sorts and serves six households, but the same applies to single family homes.
It’s not 100% foolproof. Some ppl will throw stuff on the street anyways. Like ppl biking without lights in the dark even though we have battery lights now. Ppl leave big items at the side because they don’t fit, and can’t be bothered to care. Someone’ll clean it up eventually, right?
My dear old mum once dropped her entire purse in a container. Police officer helping her was very gracious about it :)
But as a thing in itself, it’s very, very nice. As long as they get emptied in time.
We have big garbage containers like this in the 2nd largest city in Romania as well. They are usually positioned to serve multiple buildings and once a week a truck comes and takes them out.
We have them all over The Netherlands ( not just Amsterdam … ) and they come 3 times a week to empty them .
@@richardhltrp1791 the ones from Romania are bigger than these and that's why they collect it once a week .
@@alexia2189 so the smell continues… is calculated how much should go in without making problems ! Like smell and in Romania 🇷🇴 the weather is warmer so that will cause more problems and the truck must be more heavy ( more noise) and the street suffers more ! It’s just a matter of facts and calculations!
@@richardhltrp1791 it doesn't smell. They are underground...
Yep same here in Portugal and no smell as they are placed away from houses, have very heavy lids and are emptied once or twice per week as needed.
Fun fact: There are also no landfills for domestic waste in most of the EU anymore!
I don’t think there are any left in the EU, they’re forbidden.
Hm idk, I definitely have a landfill right by me that I can drop off waste at. Idk what they do with it though
There are a lot, on all EU.
And no, they are not forbidden at EU level, there's a policy to reduce over the years.
Some countries do like Germany, Nerherlands, Denmark and Sweden. But they are the minority.
Incinerators also have their issues, so some countries are still reluctant...
@@strange144 just a collecting point probably. from there it is recycled or burned
They've all been buried and built on top off. That is what used to happen. Now most of it is recycled or burned. The EU forbids new landfills from being opened I think, as well as the limitations other have mentioned.
One addition tho: these streetbins can only be opened with a pass, that all residents get. The pass gives you acces to the bin closest to your home (so not to all of them). And you are right, this system wont work if you have to drive to the location. Thats why they are all around, so people can walk to them.
Edit: apparently in some parts of Amsterdam you dont need a pas.
@gerrylanter8109 Amsterdam werkt zeker ook wel met afvalpassen, die kun je gewoon aanvragen bij de gemeente. Misschien in bepaalde delen niet (geen idee waarom), maar onbekend is het ZEKER niet in A'dam 👍
@gerrylanter8109 They definitely used to have passes in Amsterdam ZuidOost back when I lived there until 2009.
@@weetjijwel050 ik woon niet in amsterdam, wij hebben hier wel een pas, maar die werkt voor elke in de stad
Ja bij ons werkt het ook met een pas en die ken ik ook door de hele stad gebruiken (zuid limburg)
Passen werken op alle containers, niet die alleen bij je op hoek vd straat !
Sterker nog: alle passen met n chip zoals bankpas, OV kaart, school/studentenpas, etc zijn in staat om de afvalbak te openen.
Yea, that's pretty genius and the way forward - here in Portugal we do a similar thing but it's not stored underground. Dotted around are large dump bins for metal, glass, plastic and general non recyclable trash. So you just take it to one of those. Hassle free as long as you have space in the back of your car to drop it off. Then the vans are on a rota to empty them. But it is of course much more efficient than a van stopping at virtually every house. Obviosly they try to place this large communal bins somewhere both convenient and non intrusive for the residents.
We already have this kind of underground bins, and other types ;D But its not common tho, yeah
The big truck you see at 4:45 and 6:30 is for oversized garbage only, for example furniture you don't need anymore. You have to make an appointment, and the community will pick it up for free. As an alternative, we have waste collection stations, where you can bring various types garbage for free as well.
In the part of England where I live we have 4 rubbish/trash bins in our yard.
One for general waste, one for paper and cardboard, one for glass/plastic bottles, drink and food cans and one for garden waste such as grass cuttings shrub cuttings and food waste.
Each garbage bin is emptied alternately every 3 weeks
In Finland we have similar underground system but it's like in every block/group of houses. Those houses all use same recycling bins and then share the cost of emptying them. If you don't live in the city, you often have trash can by the road on it's own "hut" all the time and trash is collected from there by schedule without you moving it back and forth. Though living there you probably take special things like glass, metal etc. to the communal sorting station in the town when driving by it and only the basic trash is collected.
Feel like it would be nice if you mentioned who the video is from and left at least a link to their chanel in the description, so the chanel gets the recognition they deserve and people can watch more if theyre interested.
The channel is not just bikes btw
I live in Belgium. We have underground containers as well in my neighbourhood. Love them! They are not everywhere in Belgium however.
In Mazovia (near central Pl) we got garbage "takout" once every two weeks. We sort trash into special bags and store them in special " garbage huts" in villages. Mostly just near the gates of each garden.
We drag these bags and bins to outer sides of fences for garbage people to take them away.
Sometimes strays, mice etc get into bags but not often.
I live in the Dutch countryside and we still have garbage collection days.
im not in amsterdam but we also have underground containers. I love it. best thing ever
Love your curiosity and willingness to learn about other places!
Switzerland has had shared containers for a long time. Not only in the city but also in the suburbs.
I first spotted this when visiting our office in Slotervaart, near the airport. I noticed the communal bins when walking through a neighbourhood to the tram. "What a good idea" I thought.
back here in Cardiff we don't have to worry about racoons, but our seagulls are quite ingenious!
Food waste is sealed in brown boxes, before being collected for digestion. Glass is now in a blue box. fortnightly alternate collections of garden and general, but recyclables & food every week.
I live in Dordrecht The Netherlands and we have these underground containers too. Plastics are picked up every week you just use the special garbage bags and hang them on a lamp post (with dedicated hooks attached to the posts), paper fortnightly through dedicated bins. Works great. Oversized waste will be picked up after a call to the city waste recycling service or can be dropped off at their recycling station.
We have these in Poland now too, and they're brilliant! We never had a garbage day in our city anyway, because you'd take the trash to a little pen with a dozen humongous bins, but now we got the underground trash and I love it. The variety in my neighborhood is a bit more low-tech - it uses these enormous black weave bags instead of solid metal cans, but it works exactly the same way. Every day or two a big-ass truck comes by, empties one type of bins, and goes on its merry way. One downside of this system that I've noticed is that it's very reliant on good management - if the trash company misses pickups or your administration skimps on capacity, you end up with a mound of trash growing around the inlets.
It's funny how this seems normal to me (I live in the Netherlands), but now that I think about it, yeah pretty great compared to most countries.
There's also drawbacks to this system: The underground containers get stuck regularly due to inconsiderate people putting in larger bags than allowed. Which means it can no longer be used > trash gets put on the side > wildlife gets in there > etc...
It also makes recycling a lot easier. Besides the generic garbage in these containers. We also have them for glass etc. These can usually be found near supermarkets. So when you go shopping you can also get rid of your recycling. And its all underground so it takes up less space and smells less.
It's the same undergroung system in Portugal, for many years now. It's everywhere and it's very convenient.
I live near the 9 straatjes and we still have garbage day, two times a week. There are containers, but not in every street and they get full very very quickly.
Here in Trelew, Chubut, Argentina. garbage is recollected everyday, except sunday.
This is a good moment to pay homage to the old joke: “What has four wheels and flies?”
I already knew - and appreciated - the video, but the expressions on your face were another bonus. Although we do have trash-rats, crows, seagulls etc. Or people who can’t be bothered and just throw their bags on the street beside the collector. Not to mention an enormously differentiated ‘landfill’ site, where nothing ends in a general landfill, but everything has its place, from your AA penlight to chemicals, your coffeemaker, treated wood, untreated wood, or your mattress. Fascinating system.
Garbage day used to be a topic in The Netherlands too. Especially in cities, these underground containers are common, but nog for every type of waste. I live in Utrecht and there is still a garbage day for paper and compost. I have to bring out glass bottles and other waste.
I think these bins are mostly used in cities. They started to use this system in my city in 2001. I remember that well because we were renovating. ‘Our’ underground bin was less than 50 metres from our house which was extremely convenient. The system has been upgraded, so the municipality knows which bin is almost full so they can adjust the routes. So it hardly ever happens that I have to take my trash back home. And when it does, I can dispose it the next day. Great system, especially in densely populated areas, which there are a lot of in the Netherlands.
Btw, it works with a household pas, which is valid for every bin in your neighborhood so it’s not possible for people from elsewhere to dump their trash everywhere, and when the closest bin is full, you can always try another one, unless you’re lazy like me.
I live in a building in Ireland, and while I know there's a trash day, I don't have to worry about it because the building has a set of communal dumpsters for recycling, glass, and rubbish. I just put everything in the appropriate dumpster. The downside is that sometimes some of my neighbours have a lot of recycling and/or rubbish, and the dumpsters might be full, but that's typically just a matter of waiting a day or so.
Newer buildings have small sheds or enclosures for storing the bins. Thankfully urban foxes don't have the manual dexterity of trash pandas, so it's mainly to protect them from the wind.
In most city here in the Netherlands, we have both. The underground containers for most of the trash and for people that dont have their own bin, but there are also garbage days too for the people who do still have their own bin.
Where we live in france in our city it’s like this underground garbage container for each of 4 apartments complexes and one for each of the street in housing areas. This way nowadays city is so clean and green without garbage all over the places except when collectors where on strike but that was just one week for what like last 10 yrs
Here in Arnhem, a city in the east of the Netherlands (150.000 inhabitants) , we have it too. But in small villages there is still garbage day.
You'll also save on other costs because of the sensor in those containers, the trucks only come to busy area's or those that are (nearly) full, which saves gas and I'm sure also personnel. And not to mention time. This is a really common solution in Europe, many countries offer this especially in cities it's a must. If you're in an apartment it's a must because you won't have to worry about your garbage attracting flies because it can't last until next week.
I sort of assumed this would be everywhere in America too. It's a really good system.
its the same here in the south we all have those underground depo's.. we also have Special bins for plastic and for cardboard aswel.. in some neighbourhoods we still have those trash bins but mostly has the underground
Underground containers are being rolled out slowly in the Netherlands. Currently my town (55.000) is in the process of replacing rolling containers with underground. (I got one for my appartment building last year) While Amsterdam has had them for over 10 years now.
So, it's like the roads: whenever they need maintanance, they're modernised and upgraded to ever increasing standards.
Note: the only raccoons in the Netherlands live in the zoo.
"Note: the only raccoons in the Netherlands live in the zoo."
Not quite, there are some feral ones in (Zuid) Limburg. Most are coming in by themselves from Germany.
My city, Hoorn (north of Amsterdam), is also due to have underground bins next year. Placing them in the area with the late Middle Ages houses is a bit of a challenge. They are still unsure how to do that, but they are starting anyway with the rest of us. As I live in a small house in the city center with no garden, I'm really looking forward to it.
I'm living in Brittany, Western France. My city started to use this system a few years ago, in some areas... Yes , so comfortable...
Another benefit is that when your bin is full you take it to the underground container. This has an anti vermin effect( mice rats) waste is never stored on balconies or in the appartements immediately put underground.
At the other end of the spectrum comes Lisbon (at least when I lived there). In Portugal's capital, every day (except Sunday) is garbage day. Yes, in the central areas of the city, there's collection every night.
We started this in The Hague (Scheveningen) against the seagulls, they opened things up and it works perfectly.
Every day in Amsterdam is garbage day! In more ways than one... Greetings from Rotterdam.
What I dearly miss are the large-garbage collection days (grofvuil) in the Netherlands; these days you are to bring large items to the recycling center or call the guys for pickup on a specific date, but in the past you would put your old fridges, furniture and whatnot at the curb on a specific day (typically once a month or once every 2 weeks). For kids, that was scavenging day! A discarded baby carriage would be the jackpot, the wheels being useful for making a soapbox cart, but you'd find a lot of other interesting stuff. Old electronics, wood to be used for projects, or just stuff to blow up with firecrackers. Oh, to grow up in the 70s was a rare privilege.
I live in the province of Québec. Our bins are also picked up on alternating fortnights, recycling and composting one week and all the rest the next week. It's not complicated. And there's so little left that is non recyclable or compostable that I only need to take the grey (garbage) bin to the kerb every 4, 5 or 6 months.
In my block in Gothenburg, Sweden we have a suction system for garbage with several locked (bc only for us living here) drop chutes with pipes bringing it to one place. Beside that there are containers for recycling of glass, paper, plastics, metal and batteries.
I live in a block in Oslo, Norway, and our suction system was installed when they built the blocks in 1991.
Works great. No overflowing bins to worry about. :O)
Where I live it is mostly newbuilds thar have it and also apartment buildings. I live in my own house and still have bins..
It's the same system in Barcelona. Trash bins are located every city block, not underground mind you, but basically the same size as the ones you see in that clip. Trash day is everyday...you never keep garbage very long in your house, and can dispose of it every day. Trucks designed to empty the containers pass every other day.
You should react to more vids of his channel :) especially about the nethetlands infrastructure
I used to have an underground trash container, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. The distance was further than 50 meters and when bags are heavy it can be hard to carry them. Also when they are full or the lid is stuck people leave their trash next to it. Meaning it will smell and animals will cut open the bag looking for a meal. I have a container now and much prefer it
We have underground containers but also special bins for gft and paper and they will be collected on a special day
German solution - the trashcan user can order a trashcan with a installed lock and key (also a NFC device), the garbage collection truck has a electric device wich can unlock the trashcan via NFC. Large appartment buildings also have underground solutions wich are called Müllschlucker (garbage chute).
This is not everywhere so in the Netherlands. In the south where I live, we just put out wheelie bins outside every first Monday of the month.
Here in Portugal we have recycling and common garbage containers every 200 meters for years. It's not a thing for us. We just bring our one or two day bags of garbage when going to work and leave it in whatever container we find along the way. Easy and convenient.
I live in Amsterdam and I love this system. It's not only in Amsterdam, but also in other and smaller city's.
I miss the old nets along biking paths you could throw garbage in without stopping. There was one close to my house here in Amsterdam but they removed it because people can't aim and it's a hassle to clean. I think they still have some in less populated areas. I grew up around a lot of farms and they had so many of those nets.
There's actually rules about how far the furthest udnerground trash container is allowed to be (in a neighborhood with underground trash containers ofc). I think it's about 100-150 meters. This is to keep things accessible for everyone (and because we acknowledge that noone is going to take a stroll just to throw away the trash)
In my neighborhood, we have underground containers for paper, plastics, and garbage. The paper and plastics are free, but the garbage you pay for every time you open the lid (you use a card with a chip to open it). We have containers or wheely bins (?) for greenery trash, which is picked up every 2 weeks.
I'm French and I've never heard of the concept of garbage day. They're collected every day. Except for bulky items, which are collected once a week, but it's not a service you need on a daily basis
I lived in Ocala, FL. No Garbage Collection at all! 😅People are supposed to bring their trash to the Landfill themselves (but often dump it in the woods and/or burn it 🙁)
There are, however, a few local guys that offer a pickup service.
I live 400 km from Amsterdam and we have that here for atleast 20 years
These underground containers are not common everywhere in the Netherlands. More and more cities are using them, but in little villages and especially in areas where few people live, the normal trashcan and Garbidge Day are still in place.
I live in a small city of around 39,000 inhabitants. Not all neighbourhoods have underground garbage containers. Trashcans and Garbidge Day still exist here as well. In my neighbourhood, we do have underground containers. There are enough for the whole neighbourhood. They are of the "clever" type. When the garbidge reaches a certain level, the city garbidge department is automatically notified. Within one working day, a truck is dispatched to empty the container.
There still is garbage day in the Netherlands, it's not like that everywhere (yet?) In my building there's a garbage room with big containers for regulare trash and for paper. These containers are emptied once or twice a week. My brother still has to put out a bin but you have to bring it to a pickup point on the corner of the street. But these underground containers are pretty much everywhere.
You have this throughout the Netherlands, usually operated with a chip card from your street so that no one else can throw garbage in it.
It would work in AMERICAN CITIES, I have lived in AMSTERDAM, And the one thing they are very hot on is recycling.
You get used to taking your bottles and cans to the supermarket,,,, you dispose of your trash this way ,,you get a ticket and when you’re paying for your shopping,,you get a generous amount of your bill. ✌✌✌💰💰💰❤❤❤
Ehm, SOME are very hot on recycling, but most are not. Ive been a garbageman in the past, and saw myself that everything at the end still ends up on one pile, even when the people had to seperate it before that. Glas is something most do seperate, but paper ends up in the bin (by far the most). And we bring the bottles and cans back to the supermarket because we pay a deposit, that we get back when you hand em in to the supermarkets again. By far the most do this for the money, not for the environment 👍
In Spain, where I live now, the trash is collected every night!! There are plenty of big, heavy (and ugly) trasholders on the streets available for everyone. Even bigger items can be left on the streets to be collected. In Alicante you just have to give a call to the administration office so that they know what to expect. No extra charge. Love it!
Same here in Norway 👍 The garbage leaves by huge pipes underground 😊
Througout the country (Netherlands) the underground bins are coming more and more. But... They are not so open anymore in most cases. Most are "tag/card checked". Sometimes because you will be charged per bag (the way households get charged for garbage differs per city: sometimes a fixed yearly fee, sometimes per use, sometimes a combination), but at least to prevent little kids from getting inside unnoticed and getting in life threatening trouble
We have those underground things in France, too. The problems: some people are too stupid to use them (they clog the chutes by putting too large bags inside) and in Summer, it smells.
It is the same here in the Netherlands. And the market people also use the containers, even tough they are not allowed.
My brother maintains this type of underground garbagebins, last time he found a new pair of shoes in the paper recycle bin 😂
This is really fun video for you, if you already wanna see how tall the Dutch are! 😁
See how this 193cm Korean guy experienced the Netherlands! 👌🏼✌🏼
It's with English subtitles!
청춘이다 One’s Youth
(ENG) 193cm 한국인 네덜란드에 가면 생기는 일 🇳🇱
ruclips.net/video/_pcuU7j12pE/видео.htmlsi=JtY2pykZFP651o0R
It’s a great system for regular waste. Particularly if it’s free (via city tax) because you can than also chuck out waste lying around in the streets. In some cities you have to have a pass or pay per “dump”. Glad we don’t have that where I live.
I’m less enthusiastic about the underground recycling bins. They are fewer and so it seems often overflowing. I live in the city centre. Businesses have the tendency to illegally dump their recyclables in those bins, and a great many households are dependent on those bins.
A low budget solution for more rural areas is a ring with hooks on a lamp post. People can hang a full garbage bag, keeping it off the ground and away from rats. There are no raccoons in the Netherlands, we have other critters that can be a pain, so this doesn't work everywhere.
Many of the underground containers are only accessible with a card, so only those who pay the garbage tax can use them. This is to prevent people from outside the area from filling up the container. It used to be a real issue in some neighbourhoods. Some containers have a side access for small trash or there is a general bin close by, but neither will fit a bag for the same reason as the access card.
This is less time consuming and way less congestive. You'll realise when you are in Amsterdam that streets are super narrow, especially in older areas. A stopped truck means nobody is getting past. When using the underground containers, a truck needs to stop at a designated spot, which can be out of the flow of traffic. There is also much less starting and stopping, which is the most polluting. In my neighbourhood, the garbage truck takes maybe 10 minutes emptying four containers and it is gone.
In more spread out neighbourhoods, this doesn't always work because of the distance to the container. The best place to use these are next to apartment buildings. Lots of people using the same exit, walking right past the bins.
I'm from Sweden and we don't have garbage day either - at least not in the cities. There might be if you live in a villa, I don't know how that works.
But in the cities we either have a system similar to the one in this video where you throw your trash in underground containers or we have a room in the apartment building where you throw it.
In Madrid Spain in my neighborhood there is a neumatic device o vacumm to shoot the garbage thought pipes so we only have few trucks for the big staff and are daily
Where I live in London we have these pod things that you put your rubbish in and then it gets sucked through underground tunnels to a central location where bin lorries come and pick them up. It's called envac
The Netherlands still has garbage days. These underground trash containers are usually installed in cities for apartments. Because then there'd be too many people to collect trash from, so they get a collective trash container. I will say though... these things suck. People are always dumping their trashbags next to it, because it wouldn't fit or it was full, but will also dump other trash items near it like a couch of a closet. These containers are meant for the people living in the apartments, but people will drive up to it from another neighbourhood and dump their own trash in it, making the apartment residents complain that their container is always full. Some places have a card you must scan to open up the container so that only apartment residents can use it, but then you face the issue of people simply dumping the trash right next to it.
The suburbs in the Netherlands, so people with a house, will have their own garbage bin (several, in fact), and will have to put them out on the street on garbage day. So please don't misunderstand it's like this everywhere; it's only for apartments.
That said, we do have recycling containers for suburbs as well (which you can see at 4:04), which is only for cardboard/paper and glass.
There were some reasons to go for this system. One of them is that in many places in Amsterdam people lie in small appartments without gardens, and especially in summer keeping the garbage in was unhealthy and uncomfortable, especially if you're not so disciplined or are away often. And we have no spce for big containers, nor in the house, nor in the street. In some neighbourhoods the trashman came two times a week because of this. The reason to speed up the process was that the seagulls here learned from the raccoons or vice versa. Early in the morning the beasts ripped open the garbage bags and spread all the stuff over the street. Within a few years most neigborhoods ad underground trash containers.
Its like in 80% of the country there are some small villages that are changing or if its too expensive for the few people that are going to use it
In Athens Greece some suberbs have same system.
I live in Haarlem, 20km west of Amsterdam.
We also have underground garbage containers, for me its around 50 meters.
I think people further up in the street are max 100 meters away from it.
Containers for paper and glass are a bit wider spread, i estimate around 300 meters from my home.
The paper and glass container are always open, the garbage one is locked and can be opened with a card ever household gets.
My card can only open the container closest to me.
I dont know if its being logged how often i dump something in it.
We pay a yearly garbage tax and no matter how much you dump, we all pay the same.
But it would not surprise me if we get taxed more if we dump more in the future.
I think this system can be found all over Europe in cities at least. We have the same here in Switzerland, for regular garbage, glass and organic garbage. For some reason, paper and carton still have a designated day though.
its pretty much like this ALL over europe...
These underground containers are in many, densely populated areas in the Netherlands. The rest of the country has garbage day. Our standardized 'kliko' bins aren't raccoon proof, but then again, we don't have raccoons. I know for a fact my dog will tip one over if I put his bones in there.
Now. There is a bit of a caveat to this underground solution, because people stack their trash next to it once the container is full. Not only that, but people will put their 'grofvuil', so large trash next to it. Chairs, fridges, microwaves, beds, that sort of thing.
Yeah as someone living in Amsterdam. You still have garbage day. Parts of the city, such as the city center, do not have underground containers. So you put yhe garbage out of garbage day. Plus the containers get emptied on certain days. Then they will also take stuff that doesn't fit in the containers.
Welcome to the Netherlands this summer, and greetings from a medium sized Dutch city near Amsterdam, where we have the same underground containers.
I think that now this is most common system around the whole country. The containers shown here in Amsterdam, can be opened by anyone. That is a good strategy. But in other cities, as in mine, we have underground containers that you need a pass for to open. This is to avoid people from other areas dumping stuff in yours, and fill it up too soon. But since this system is now so widespread, there is hardly a reason to keep them pass-locked.
I know that when the containers were first introduced (±15 years ago), that there were ideas to use the same pass-system to also weigh the stuff you drop in the container, and charge you accordingly, or when you cross a certain threshold, through the same pass-system. It may be in use in some other cities, I don't know. But the whole idea of your trash being 'checked' does not feel good, and mechanically it would be an extra point of failure in the containers.
Like you said, this is easier to imagine in more dense populated areas. In countries with much more rural regions things are different.
When I was In Ireland, you have to bring your own trash to the dump in your region, and you need a car to get there. At the dump your car is weighed, some paper, plastics and glass can be dumped for free to be recycled, and the rest is just piled up in a reserved wasteland. When leaving the dump your car is weighed again, and you pay for what you dumped.
The costs of maintaining the dump are paid for by the profit from the recyclable stuff, but with an ever growing wasteland from the unusable rest, this is not sustainable.
It's the same system in Denmark in most big cities.. There's stil garbage days in the county and smaller cities
The pencil in space is a problem. Small dust of graphite that conducts current, just imagine.
I live in Amsterdam. And I love it. It’s so easy. And a clean way. Now I throw it away when I want.
The best thing about these is that if a little kid climbs in them and you close it, you can no longer hear the kids cries.