Fast Trash: Garbage Disposal on Roosevelt Island

New York, NY —

Apartment dwellers are no strangers to the idea of throwing their trash down a chute. But what if that chute didn't end in the garbage compactor in your building's basement? What if it kept on going -- whisked away at the speed of 30 miles an hour through a series of pneumatic tubes? Such a garbage disposal system sounds like something out of the Jetsons, where personal spaceships could be folded up into briefcases and breakfast popped up out of the middle of the kitchen table. But residents of Roosevelt Island have been handling their trash this way since 1975. And it's the subject of an exhibit on the island that is scheduled to close this Sunday.

Amy Eddings spoke with Juliette Spertus, the curator of the exhibit Fast Trash: Roosevelt Island's Pneumatic Tubes and the Future of Cities.

Listen to the interview: