A unique part of Amsterdam is currently being developed on Zeeburgereiland: the Sluisbuurt. A district with a very high population density. There will be no fewer than 5,500 apartments, most of them high-rise buildings. That means 375 homes per hectare. So a relatively large amount of waste will be generated. That is why the municipality has started looking for a new way of collecting waste, a system in which transport does not take place by road but underground.

It is therefore called: Underground Waste Transport System (OAT). Residents can dispose of their garbage bags within their building in a number of inlets. There are always four disposal openings next to each other: one for residual waste, one for GFE (Vegetables, Fruit and Food Waste), one for OPK (Waste Paper and Cardboard) and one for PMD (Plastics, Metals and Drinking Cartons). These inlets, equipped with an internal buffer, are connected to a pipe system in the ground.

They are suctioned in turn, if necessary even several times a day. The pipe system ends at a terminal, where the waste is collected one by one to be transported to the incinerators or other terminal stations.

Van Schie’s share in the project covers the construction of the entire system of transport pipes (total length: 4 kilometers) plus the building connections, including all earthwork and trenching. The entire underground system consists of HDPE pipes with a diameter of 33.5 centimeters, provided with a composite inner layer.

In addition to the construction of the pipe system, Van Schie is also responsible for the realization of the terminal building and the installation of the weighbridge inside the building. It is expected that the first part of this entire system can be put into use at the end of 2024.

The sequence of construction of the further pipe systems depends on the development of the remaining housing locations. All in all, an innovative and innovative project on which Van Schie will continue to work a lot in the coming years.