Although he is now involved in much more serious scandals, at one time garbage collection was one of the priorities of the mayor of New York.
For this reason,
Eric Adams
gave the go-ahead on Thursday for the first tests of
waste collection using side-loading trucks
to be carried out on the streets of Manhattan .
The videos of the test circulated on X, where dozens of users were surprised by the arrival of these “transformers” to the city.
The emotion was captured in a statement by journalist Emma Fitzsimmons in an article she wrote for the New York Times: “
New Yorkers got their first glimpse of the future
.”
New York has been collecting its garbage manually.
Blood traction.
As also happens in Argentina, the bags are collected and thrown by the garbage collectors in the back of the trucks while they move at a man's pace through the streets.
In the coming days, if all goes well, the new trucks that will begin to circulate through the streets of the American city will boast a mechanized side loader designed with Italian technology capable of lifting enormous containers in one breath.
Fitzsimmons highlights that similar vehicles are already used in other American cities, but that in New York the issue is more complicated
due to its density and “bulky” garbage
(in addition to the fact that in the near future the containers will be exchanged for “bigger, "European style").
Video
The American city renewed the collection mode.
Argentina and its model strategy
If an Argentinian or Spaniard sees the videos of the truck test or reads the title of the Times article: “
Look, no hands: meet the garbage truck of the future of New York City
” they will immediately say to themselves: “But as?
It's been here for years!"
The title of the Times article mentioned in this story.
Translation: “Look, no hands: meet New York City's garbage truck of the future.”
Photo: New York Times.
This modern “approach” to garbage collection carried out in the City of Buenos Aires at least 8 years ago was highlighted by the Times journalist.
“The truck is part of the city's move toward trash containerization,
an approach used in cities like Buenos Aires and Barcelona
, Spain, and a move away from the ubiquitous New York scenes of small mountains of garbage bags stacked in the sidewalks,” Fitzsimmons writes.
In Buenos Aires, seven different companies are in charge of collecting containers in their different neighborhoods: AESA, Cliba, Solbayres, NITTIDA, Urban Hygiene Entity, Urbasur and Ashira Martín & Martín Ute, and the majority use this type of collection trucks with mechanical lateral loading.
Video
The City of Buenos Aires began using them in 2016
In 2016, CABA's official website reported: “To maintain hygiene, the City incorporated special trucks that clean the inside and outside of garbage containers.
In total, there are 31 trucks that sanitize the 28 thousand containers distributed throughout the Buenos Aires neighborhoods.”
“Equipped with third-generation technology that had not been used in Argentina until now, some of the equipment allows the use of both sides of the collection truck (others only one) and
has a robotic crane
that allows the containers to be lifted and emptied by gravity. through the bottom for its corresponding daily emptying,” the article details.
And it goes on to describe that the containers of the bilateral system do not have wheels but rather rest directly on the ground, being installed on a guide fixed to the ground.
"At its ends it has side handles that hold it firmly to the ground, preventing any type of movement at that level, except for lifting by the collection truck."
The trucks that CABA began using in 2016. Photo: CABA
What do they say in X?
On social media they let the residents of New York City know that their new mechanical collection garbage truck is not exactly the “future”…
“
Is it satire?
” one user asked.
Another, more curious, wondered: “Having seen this (and its pros and cons) in Barcelona, I am very curious to see what it looks like in SCALE.
Are there other cities larger than BCN where they already use this system?”
A comment in X about the new New York truck.
Photo: X
"This is ridiculous.
“This technology has been used for decades in the rest of the world,” acknowledged a third person.