https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_vacuum_collection
Basically it’s a system of big vacuum pipes under an urban area that brings trash to the processing location as opposed to collecting it with trucks. Envac is the biggest company in this space I think (In fact, the Wikipedia article for Envac redirects to the page on the technology itself), and they have installed systems in a lot of cities around the world. They also tout that it’s more sustainable compared to truck-based trash collection.
One issue I see is that in most of the images of installed systems, you only see two or three parallel chutes: trash, recycling, and maybe organics. Wouldn’t this be less efficient compared to sorting recyclables by material at the point of collection? Especially when you consider that plastic recycling performance is so low that people here say it’s a scam, while to my knowledge metal and glass recycling is a lot better. I also feel like glass containers would be thoroughly shattered by the time it gets to the collection facility.
Where I live, trash collection is home-based: everyone gets their trash bins (paper, organics, glass/aluminum/plastic, non-recyclable) and trash collection is operated door-by-door based on a weekly schedule (a small track will pick your trash at night-time). This a very common system in northern Italy and has been observed to greatly improve the quality of recycling. Italy is one of the virtuous European countries when it comes to recycling and this system often gets the credit for it. I live in the province which has the highest score when it comes to quality and quantity of recycling and I’ve basically been used to this system and to recycling my waste since I was a little kid (~88% of trash is recycled and the average individual annual waste is around 50 kg). The previous system was still based on recycling, but rather then everyone having their recycling bins, there were some public giant trash cans where everyone could throw their garbage - citizens responsibility greatly improved the quality of recycling
I’ve always liked the idea of Automated Vacuum Collection, but it’s not compatible with a home-by-home system and would only be applied for dense areas and public small bins. It would make garbage collection way easier and lower the emissions impact of transportation (which is considerable), but doesn’t seem compatible with the current trend that aims at improving the quality of recycling, often by adopting a door-by-door pickup system