Installation began yesterday on a pneumatic rubbish convey system for the Shanghai Expo site that will be capable of recycling all trash in the core area of the site under the control of only three operators, an Expo official said yeaterday.

The system is expected to be the first and largest of its kind in China, said Liu Fang, an official of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination's Construction Department.

The system can automatically transport about 60 tons of rubbish every day. It will cover the core area of the Expo site, which includes main structures such as China Pavilion and the Theme Pavilion.

The system is mainly composed of huge exhaust shafts and many tunnels under the Expo site. The tunnels are connected and link to all rubbish bins on the site. The exhaust shafts allow airflow to send the trash to a rubbish station via the tunnel. The station then separates rubbish automatically and transports it to collection boxes for recycling.

The system is computer controlled. Three operators will control the entire system in the rubbish station.

The system will be finished in September and begin a trial operation, a Xinhua report said today.

It cost 60 million yuan (US$8.76 million) to set up the system, the report said. It was built by Shanghai Chengtou Corp, the city's main infrastructure constructor.

(Shanghai Daily February 20, 2009)