The new Parkland Hospital in Dallas will have an expansive network of 16-inch sealed pneumatic tubes that will transport trash and recyclables rapidly and cost-effectively from strategic collection sites throughout the building to the Dumpsters parked at the loading dock, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.
Computer-controlled, the tubes will travel at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. The system was designed to keep the units cleaner, since little trash storage is needed.
The system facilitates patient-focused care efforts because it allows hospital personnel to eliminate the need to take out the trash, the article said.
The 2.5 million-square-foot hospital complex is a 17-story, $1.3 billion hospital with 865 private rooms, 27 operating rooms and 96 individual neonatal intensive care rooms as well as 12 intensive care beds in the Parkland Burn Center.
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