no noise, no smell?

Those garbage tubes are making news again. This time The New York Times has published an article on the Roosevelt island tubes, which seem to never cease to amaze. The tubes are painted as noiseless, odorlous invisible labourers sucking garbage at speed, underneath the neighbourhood streets.

The journalist is surprised by how mechanical it all is. No computer screens, just dials. We hear of the ingenious methods for extracting garbage that clogs the system, from lassos and iron crosses and other medieval devices. But my favourite detail of all? The collection of house plants, salvaged from the garbage, carefully placed outside the control room.

Image my own, from my Stockholm fieldwork of the garbage tubes.