Frequent chokes hamper automated waste systems in some HDB estates

Chokes often caused by dumping of large cardboard boxes, renovation debris: HDB

- Wong Yang and Sheo Chiong Teng

When a new automated waste system was installed in his Housing Board estate in Teck Ghee about a year ago, Mr Tan Wee Boon thought the noise caused occasionally by large rubbish bins hauled around his estate would become a thing of the past.

That is because the pneumatic waste conveyance system (PWCS) uses a vacuum-like suction to transport household waste via underground pipes to a centralised bin centre, where it is stored before being taken to incineration plants by waste disposal trucks.

In theory, workers are no longer needed to manually collect the refuse from rubbish chutes at individual blocks.

But soon after his estate started using the PWCS in 2024, Mr Tan, 40, still noticed workers manually removing rubbish from the chutes at the foot of the blocks in his area.

"The workers have to regularly open the chutes and take trash out because they get choked, especially during festive periods," said the engineer, who has lived in Teck Ghee for more than two decades.

"It's very unfortunate that we have automated systems to improve how things are done, but we have to resort to old methods because people are not using the system correctly."

While HDB did not provide the number of reports of PWCS chokes it has received in recent years, residents and a contractor that maintains such systems told The Straits Times that the improper disposal of bulky items and renovation debris are causing frequent chokes that happen almost daily in some areas.

In response to queries from ST, HDB said on Jan 31 that PWCS chokes are more prevalent in their first year of operation as residents carry out renovations and move in progressively.

The chokes are often caused by indiscriminate dumping of renovation debris into the PWCS chutes, and by large cardboard boxes and packaging materials used for home appliances and other deliveries, added the public housing agency.