WEBVTT - NYC Trash: A study in persistence 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:03.760 Hey, everyone, do you live in Washington, DC? Are you 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.400 sitting around fretting about this upcoming election? Maybe you're even 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:09.840 working on one of these campaigns. Well, we've got a 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:12.360 great stress reliever for you, and that's coming out to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.240 see us on May thirtieth at the Warner Theater for 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:16.360 Stuff you Should Know Live. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:21.960 Yeah, we guarantee zero political jokes, one percent zero political 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:24.280 jokes if you come out and see us. We're gonna 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.280 be in Medford, mass on May twenty ninth. The next night, 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.960 we'll be in DC on May thirtieth, and then the 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:31.760 night after that we'll be at our old friend, the 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.040 Town Hall in Manhattan Town, NYC. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:36.440 That's right, So check out tickets. You can go to 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:38.519 stuff youshould Know dot com, you can go to the 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.919 theater websites themselves, avoid those secondary ticket brokers, or check 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:44.880 out our link tree, right Josh. 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.640 Yeah, link tree sysk Lot. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:59.960 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.280 You and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.399 Chuck and Jerry's here too, and it's just the three 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.479 of us, Oscar the Grouch in it here on Stuff 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:09.039 you Should Know. 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.040 Yeah, I think this I think there may be one 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.319 more in this sort of semi suite that we've been 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.319 tackling over the years, which is to say, the the 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:23.560 operations of New York City. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:25.080 It's fascinating stuff. 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.360 I love it because every time I'm there, I'm like, yeah, 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.120 how do they deal with all this trash and deliver 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.280 all that mail? So if mail is interesting enough, well, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.080 I'm gonna do a little research and see if New 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.759 York City mail is worth its own deal. 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.440 Okay, we did one on the USPS before. 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.120 Oh, sure, that was as done stuff on landfills and 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.440 all kinds of things. But New York City is very 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.120 specific to its own self. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.720 Yeah, as they say, living it up between the Moon 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.720 and New York City. I can't remember the rest living 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:00.240 it up. 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:08.040 Yeah, and then he says, no, I like, it's if 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:10.919 you get caught, But I like, I like. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:16.440 Living it up better too. All Right, so we're talking 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:21.079 New York City trash, Chuck. I didn't ever really give 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:23.600 much thought to it. I've been in New York plenty 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:25.040 of times and have been like, wow, there's a lot 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.640 of trash everywhere all the time, some of it in bags, 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:30.760 some of it on the street, some of it in 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:35.360 overflowing trash containers. But it turns out that it is 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.760 an enormous issue and has been an ongoing and very 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.600 long standing issue in New York. And they now have 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.400 a mayor and a sanitation commissioner who's like, enough, it's done. 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:50.280 We're cleaning the city up once and for all. And 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.640 what's yeah, Eric Adams, he's got a whole like, his 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:59.480 whole campaign is called get Stuff Done, and the the 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.560 trash branch of that is get Stuff Clean. And just Katish, 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.240 the new garbage commissioner is from one of the wealthiest 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.120 families in America, possibly the world. Oh wow, who's decided 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:15.919 to dedicate her career to civil service, specifically in New York. 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:17.960 So she's worked in a few agencies and now she's 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:23.440 the head of the Sanitation Department the dsn Y and 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.480 is basically just like steamrolling through with new changes and 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:29.480 just being like, oh, I don't care. That's the way 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:31.320 you used to do it. Apparently it's wrong because it 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.079 didn't get it done. We're doing it this way now. 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.560 So they're actually making huge enormous changes by leaps and 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:40.360 bounds that seem like they actually possibly could clean New 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:41.920 York up in the next couple of years. 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.280 Do you know what how the Tish family, what their deal. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.600 Is, what the what their deal is like, how they 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:50.840 communicate Thanksgiving? 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.720 Well name, he said, one of the wealthiest families in 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:54.000 the world. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.680 I was kind of curious, Oh, I get what you mean. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:58.080 So what from or whatever? 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.920 Her father is the CEO of like the Loew's theaters, 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:07.520 the Loewe's hotels. Apparently they own a distilling brand like 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.920 the parent companies, the CEO of the parent company. But 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:17.080 I have a feeling like her family is like legacy wealthy. 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:18.080 That's my impression. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.960 Yeah, New York NYU has the Tish School of Arts, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:23.200 but I'm sure it's the same family. 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:25.080 Yes it is. As a matter of fact, there's a 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:30.599 really interesting profile on her and the New York Sanitation 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.680 Department in the New Yorker of all places, and they 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.560 rattled off like three different things that are named after 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.119 her family. So, yes, they've been around for a while. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.480 But apparently it's pretty cool. She's like, I'm incredibly wealthy, 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.920 but I'm going to go, you know, work my way 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:47.680 up in New York bureaucracy. 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.680 You know, it's really pretty incredible. So should we go 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:52.240 back in time. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:54.800 Yeah, let's yeah. 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.280 We've talked before about what old New York was like, 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.920 and when you see movies about old New York, they 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.159 you know, they might grunge it up a little bit, 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.719 like Scorsese's Gangs of New York probably did one of 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.200 the closest, truest depictions of early New York and just 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.160 kind of how disgusting it could be. And we've talked 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.119 about the amounts of manure from horses on the sides 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.720 of the street, but it was really really gross. New 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.360 York was a disgusting place back in the day. They 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.960 did have a law, and this show's kind of got it, 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.560 has kind of got it all. It's got like amazing 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.520 facts of the episode. Right off the bat. We have 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.520 a great album title, which was this law from the 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:40.040 sixteen fifties that banned tubs of odor and nastiness. If 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.400 that's not like a stooge's album title or something, I 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:48.400 don't know what is, but it was gross. I think 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.520 the first fact of the podcast for me is that 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:56.640 about twenty percent of Manhattan, or really the whole metro 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:01.159 area is built on land that didn't used to be there. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:07.039 It's literally land that came from garbage, bill from construction debris, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.760 dirt from the subway project. Like Lower Manhattan in particular, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.679 just kept growing and expanding in size. And here's another 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.400 fun fact on that Ellis Island is twenty eight acres 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:25.040 now it started out as three acres. Oh wow, It's 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.000 was literally built from I guess just waste. 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.480 Yeah, because I mean, if you think about it, if 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.360 you just go dump one load off of an island, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.200 you you've just littered. But if you keep doing it, 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:39.559 you're developing the land. 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:40.800 It becomes art. 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.359 Yeah, it's got to stick with it, and eventually it 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:44.719 becomes an okay thing. Right. 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.880 Yeah, It's really pretty incredible to think about that when 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.000 there are overlays that show, like, you know, how Manhattan, 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.559 Lower Manhattan grew just from dumping stone. 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.920 Oh yeah, oh, but there's pretty cool maps like that. 0:06:57.960 --> 0:06:59.800 I love that kind of stuff too, Like I love 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.720 walk looking around and being like, what was this building originally? 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.479 You know what used to be here? I asked that 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:06.200 out loud. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.480 Sometimes, right, just the building never answers that. 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.440 No. So this is not the first time, under Eric 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:17.680 Adams and Jessica Tish that a New York administrator has 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.840 tried to clean the city up. Plenty have tried, but 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.120 the last truly successful one was in the century before 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.680 last a Civil War. I think colonel a Union colonel 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:33.120 named George Waring who became the head of the Department 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.760 of Street Cleaning, which is what the sanitation department was 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:40.400 called back then, and he cleaned up the city starting 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.040 around eighteen ninety five. But he was not the first 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.960 head of the Department of Street Cleaning. That department was 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.680 almost twenty years old by the time he came along. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.520 But it had just basically been a place where Tammany 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:59.560 Hall and the political machine gave jobs to supporters, political supporters, 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:00.920 and it was like, you don't need to show up 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:02.640 to work, You're still going to get a paycheck kind 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:02.960 of thing. 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.800 Yeah. I mean, they either did that or they outright 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.360 just stole money that was allocated for those cleaning up 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:15.040 projects to begin with. I saw a name back then 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.920 in the eighteen hundreds that the sledge of just manure 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.080 and garbage and cess sess a thing. 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.280 I guess cess is the best. 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.760 Pol I know it says pools that they is sess 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:31.559 the thing in the pool. 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.719 I would think so, all right, anyway. 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.320 They called the sledge that lined the streets corporate pudding 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.320 no gross, because I guess it was just you know, 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:44.920 it wasn't getting cleaned up because all that money, like 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:49.000 I said, was either stolen or reallocated and to cronies. 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.600 There's someone named Robin Nagel who's an NYU professor who 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.520 it's an unpaid position but has basically worked as the 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:05.160 unsanctioned unsalary anthropologists from for the Sanitation Department of New 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.040 York and just has an incredible amount of knowledge about 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:08.360 the stuff. 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.600 Yeah, we've talked about Robin Nagel before, and George Waring 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.120 and the changes he made so supposedly you can look 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.920 at Harper's Magazine between eighteen ninety three and eighteen ninety five, 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:24.320 and it's like it's like George Waring came along and 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.920 waived a magic wand like the difference is so distinct. 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:33.319 Like he created kind of like a military type institution hierarchy. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:40.280 He outfitted as people with white outfits designed by John 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:45.360 Paul Gautier and pith helmets, and they went around and 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.320 they cleaned up New York. And apparently they throw parades 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.080 for him once in a while because they were just 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.720 so successful and loved and revered because they did such 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.640 a good job. But you can see the difference between 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.440 these photos and Harper's Weekly that Robin Nagel had. And 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:04.600 I think we talked about all this in the Typhoid 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.359 Mary episode. I think it was in the beginning. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:08.480 Of that one, that makes sense. 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:10.120 I'm pretty sure that's where it was. 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.200 Yeah, I imagine George Wern came in on day one. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.440 It was like, for starters, how about you get that 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.280 dead hog off the side of the road. 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:20.640 Somebody's like, she did it. 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.319 He was famous, by the way for designing the Memphis 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:30.080 sewage system after the Civil War. Before New York. They're like, hey, 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.839 he did such a good job, you know, working out 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.880 the or sewage. I guess in Memphis. Come on to 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:37.560 New York because we have sewage in the streets. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.000 Nice. He worked his way up. Yeah, if you could 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.480 make it in New York sanitation, you can make it 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:45.880 anywhere with sanitation, believe me. 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:52.400 So as things were going, they had landfills that came along, obviously, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.400 but a lot of the trash was handled by incinerators. 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.760 Still is just great controversy, as we'll get to later, 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.920 but a lot of these smaller apartment buildings had their 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:07.600 own incinerators. They would just burn their trash. The city 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.800 was like, this is an air quality nightmare, imagine, So 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.480 let's ban these things. And I thought it said eighteen 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.360 eighty nine, but they were banned finally in nineteen eighty nine. 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.160 Yeah, that tracks. I mean, it wasn't until the nineties 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.640 that New York really started to kind of turn around some. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:27.240 No, that's true. 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.280 So one of the other things they did, aside from 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:34.360 banning individual buildings having incinerators, which just seems like madness 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:38.199 in retrospect, you know what I mean, kind of does. Yeah, 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:43.560 they also started slowly shutting down the landfills that were 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:47.839 within the city limits, and finally the last one, Fresh 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.640 Kills on Staten Island, was famously shut down in two 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.160 thousand and one, and the one of the reasons it 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.240 became famous is it was the landfill that accepted a 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.640 lot of the waste from the Twin Towers after the 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.200 World Trade Center attacks, and that was it. It's kind 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:07.160 of like kind of fitting, you know what I mean, 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.280 in a really weird, bittersweet, poetic way. 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:11.600 Yeah, like a turning of the page, I guess. 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.960 So, yeah, but that was it. So the thing is 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.160 is New York still has tons of trash that they 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.520 accumulate every day. I mean, just as we'll see a 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.200 mind boggling amount of trash is generated by New York 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.560 every day and they have trouble getting it off the street. 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.679 But then also they're starting to find like we are 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.480 having problems identifying where to send this trash. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.920 Yeah, for sure. So getting back to wearing, back then, 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.160 he was like, all right, we gotta we got to 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.280 figure out a way to get this trash. Like people 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.400 just throw it in the street, and Wearing is like 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.040 that that's not a good system. I don't know if 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.600 anyone's noticed, but just throwing your trash out of your 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.640 literally out of your windows sometimes of your apartment isn't 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.320 the way to go about things if we want to 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.080 live a healthy life as a city. And so so 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.880 why don't we get trash cans? You mentioned Oscar the Grouch. 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.720 They were just sort of the standard metal Oscar the 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.400 Grouch cans for a long long time until nineteen sixty 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:14.160 eight when there was a sanitation strike that was only 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.760 nine days long. But it doesn't take long for a 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.960 sanitation strike to really I guess, get a little steam 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.440 not New York, a little steam going, because there were 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.920 one hundred thousand tons of garbage on the city streets 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:30.720 by the end of that nine days, and it was 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.719 just a mess. So they said, all right, how about this. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.080 These trash cans were working for a long time, but 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.079 you're just dumping your trash right in these cans. Why 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.800 don't you put it in trash bags inside the can, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.160 And very sweetly, they thought that that might help the 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:50.360 rat situation, like contain the smell enough where rats wouldn't 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.960 get to it, which is kind of cooky to think about. Course, rats, 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.360 we'll get to trash anywhere. And it was better than 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.199 you know, lifting up these heavy trash cans, because they 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.280 could just pick the bags out of the trash cans 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.480 and throw them in. And then finally, just a few 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.280 years later in seventy one, they said, let's just get 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.160 rid of these cans and just put it in bags 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:12.200 and put it out on the sidewalk. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.600 Yeah, that's one of the greatest, most important cities in 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.160 the world. Just leave our trash laying around in bags 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.680 for hours on end, multiple times a week, every week. 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.760 Let's do that instead, because you can stick them anywhere. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:29.080 They'll fit anywhere. Yeah, and that's one of the challenges 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.400 that New York has is it lacks a lot of 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.560 the alleys and a lot of the little side well 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.080 alleys I think is good enough to where people in 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:42.440 other cities store trash cans and trash bins like seeing people. 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.960 So instead they have to use these trash bags and 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.920 basically tuck them wherever they can kind of out of 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.040 the way, and very frequently not out of the way. 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.120 You have to walk around them on the sidewalk pretty 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:58.080 often too. So that is that's the state of New 0:14:58.160 --> 0:14:59.280 York trash collection. 0:14:59.360 --> 0:14:59.480 Now. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.119 People leave their trash out and bags on the sidewalk. 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.280 The sanitation department workers come along and pick up the 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:09.280 bags and throw them in the trash manually, throw them 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:15.120 in the garbage trucks manually. And this is staggeringly behind 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.600 the times, Like garbage technology has advanced by leaps and 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.120 bounds since then, in New York just because of some 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:24.480 of its unique characteristics and traits, has had a really 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.560 hard time implementing them like other cities have. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.920 Yeah. Absolutely, but like you said, there's good news on 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.800 the horizon. You want to take a break now, yeah, 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.120 all right, we'll take a break, good little setup, and 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.440 we'll come back and talk about just how much trash 0:15:39.480 --> 0:16:06.800 there is right after this. All right, so we promised 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.200 talk of just how much trash New Yorkers produce. I 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.560 don't think, like per person, they're creating an exceptional amount 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.120 of trash. Not picking on New Yorkers. Sure, there's just 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.200 a lot of people there, eight hundred thousand, more than 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:24.320 eight hundred thousand residential apartment buildings, and they produce about 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.600 four and a half million tons of just residential trash 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.160 every year, So twenty four million pounds a day, or 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:37.160 about twelve thousand tons per day of just residential people 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:38.480 trash from apartments. 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:43.400 Yeah, so every day they generate an equivalent weight of 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:47.200 trash to fifty million, five hundred and twenty six thousand, 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.320 three hundred and sixteen big macs. 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:51.320 I knew something like that was coming. 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.760 That's a lot of big max. Imagine all of that 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:55.400 being produced every day. 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:57.040 Is that netweight after cooking? 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.480 Sorry, that's yes, that's the completed weight. That's what you 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:02.640 get when they put it on the tray. 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:03.640 Okay, gotcha. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.280 And what's interesting is eating either one has about the 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:11.080 same impact on your health. Uh, that's good, thank you. 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:13.800 It's mourning for us, which is unusual. So I'm a 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.679 little slower, yeah, and a little little less giving with 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:18.800 my laugh count. 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:20.840 As long as I'm getting a little bit of it, 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:22.320 A little bit goes a long way. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.120 You've had plenty. You got me right off the bat 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.000 there with the what was that first. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.120 Joke that really got me the Oscar the grouch one? 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.840 No, that was okay though, Oh. 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.400 The mistaken living it up in New York City. 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.920 Yeah, yeah, yeah, that got me going right off the bat. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.240 So you would not be surprised to learn, h dear 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.399 listener that the ds n Y, which is the New 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.560 York City's sanitation department, is the largest in the country. 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.320 One reason is obviously because there are so many people 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.760 in so much trash, but also New York is a 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.960 little bit unique among large cities and that they are 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.880 responsible or more trash than other large cities are. 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.800 Yeah right, Yeah, a lot of other cities. They still 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.960 handle some like maybe houses or something on the outskirts 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.640 of town or in neighborhoods, but you know, the apartment 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.359 buildings and commercial stuff, all that's handled by private companies. 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.080 And then in other cities, that's all private companies these 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:24.560 days in some cases too, especially suburbs. But yeah, with 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:26.320 New York, they're like, nope, we're going to handle it. 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.320 If you're a resident, we're going to take care of your. 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.720 Trash, that's right. And as we'll see they on the 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.320 private side, they handle the commercial trash that's coming up shortly, 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.679 but as far as the residential stuff goes, they collect 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.880 from each residential building two or three times a week. 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.040 There are fifty nine different districts that cover New York, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.800 each having its own garage that house more than two 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.600 thousand collection trucks over those fifty nine districts. 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.120 Yeah, and that's just the collection trucks. They have other 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:58.120 kinds of trucks too. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.760 Yeah, I saw that. I was trying to find out 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.919 about maintenance of these things. But collectively, the just the 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.399 garbage trucks of New York drive about four and a 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:08.680 half million miles a year. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:09.640 That's crazy. 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:11.080 Yeah, it's a lot of miles. 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.719 So yeah, they have all sorts of different trucks. This 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.600 is where the part of me who was once a 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:18.879 little boy who loved looking at picture books of like 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:23.200 Caterpillar earth movers and those giant Volvo dump trucks really 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.200 kind of came back to the surface. But they've got 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.679 some dual bin models and if you look at them, 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.200 they basically do what it says on the tin. There's 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.720 half divided into half for trash and the other half 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.520 for a recycling so you can pick up both on 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.760 the same day at the same time. Yeah, they have 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.760 top loaders that you know, go up to like a 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.119 dumpster and just pick it up and shake it like 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.680 an enemy you might on the street who weighed much 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:53.639 less than you, all right, And then they also have 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.080 just the regular kind that are called the white elephants, 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:01.360 and those are just so incredibly massive. Each of the 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:06.520 New York City regular single bin garbage trucks can hold 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.120 twelve tons of waste. 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:10.560 That's incredible. 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:15.800 A full size American standard school bus weighs fourteen tons, 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:20.480 so they fit almost a school bus weight of trash 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.400 in just one single truck at a time. 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:24.920 How many big backs is it? 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:26.040 I didn't do that one. 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.119 Okay. This is the other fact of the podcast for 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.000 me is that every garbage truck in New York has 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:36.240 two sets of steering wheels and pedals on both sides, 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:41.000 So either person can drive and no matter who's driving, 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:46.280 each brake pedal is live. So if someone doesn't see 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.119 somebody and the person that's not driving see someone, you know, 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.080 dart in front of the garbage truck, they can hit 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:51.800 the brakes as well. 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:56.359 Yep, it's a good idea. They also have street sweepers 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.760 aka mechanical brooms, and I should say I've seen those 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.359 are starting to be rolled out in electric versions, but 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.919 apparently they're trying to slowly electrify their entire fleet. It 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.320 seems like street sweepers were one of the first to 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:16.040 be electrified. Salt spreaders, snowplows, front end loaders, basically everything 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.560 you could possibly need to clean up and clear trash. 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.840 The New York City Department of Sanitation has. 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:23.879 It, yeah, for sure. And if you're like, well, why 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:28.119 do they have snowplows and all that kind of stuff, 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:32.920 is because besides trash and recycling and composting, which there 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.480 is sort of a newer program, and it came about 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.560 because it's a big problem. I think about twenty percent 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.320 of New York City's garbage's food waste. Man, they can 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:47.560 really really cut down on that with a good composting system. 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:49.879 In the city, but they're working on that. We'll get 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:52.879 to that later. But they have to clean vacant lots. 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:56.879 They're the ones who remove the snow. Here's another fun fact. 0:21:57.359 --> 0:21:59.840 If there's a car on the street that has the 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.040 license plates torn off of it and someone has just 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.560 dumped it and it's worth under twelve hundred and fifty dollars, 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:12.000 the police say, that's a garbage car. It's not our responsibility, 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.199 so it's the DSNY has to take care of it. 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:18.840 Yeah. So I looked up a little bit on that 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:21.199 and I couldn't find how they make that assessment of 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:22.200 how much the thing is. 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:24.480 Worth Kelly Bluebook. 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:27.520 I guess I would think just by virtue of having 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:29.760 the license plate removed and it being abandoned on the 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:32.080 street would indicate that it was worth less than twelve 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:33.320 hundred and fifty dollars. 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:37.439 You know, usually the fifty dollars is what kills me, 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.560 like that's where they landed instead of just twelve or 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:44.040 thirteen hundred. Yeah, hey, I guess it was a formula. 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:48.159 Similarly, they also clean up abandoned bikes that are like 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:51.359 chained to public property if the bike can just no 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.159 longer be ridden because it's so bent or it's missing 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:56.560 some essential parts, they will take care of it. They'll 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:59.760 clip that chain and throw the whole thing away. But 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:01.159 if you have a bike that you want to get 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:02.879 rid of, you don't have to abandon it in New 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:05.680 York City. You can take the wheels off, put them 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:07.480 in with your trash, and then you can put the 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:09.440 bike itself out with your recycling. 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:11.400 Oh very nice. 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:12.520 Yeah, I thought so too. 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:15.960 And as if that wasn't enough last year in twenty 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:19.399 twenty three, Eric Adams, the mayor, said all right, you 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:23.520 also now have to regulate and enforce street vendors. You 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:26.080 got to clean up the highways and take care of 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:30.399 the graffiti in New York. And I'm sure they were like, great, 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:32.360 it's not like we didn't have enough to do already. 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:35.480 Well, what's interesting is that's creating a lot of grumbling 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:37.919 because there's a lot of jobs from other agencies that 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:39.000 are just being taken. 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:40.040 Oh, I'm sure. 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:43.040 And the justification is like, hey, you're doing other stuff. 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:45.120 You have other stuff to focus on, so this part 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:48.040 has become kind of low priority. So it makes sense 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:50.879 the Department of Sanitation would clean up graffiti. We're cleaning 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.800 up the whole city. And apparently there was a backlog 0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:57.320 of one thousand requests for graffiti removal. They cleared eight 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:01.000 hundred of them in one month. So they're doing work there. 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:04.520 That's awesome. I mean, I like good graffiti, like graffiti art. 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:07.679 Yes, So if you're a resident of New York, you 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:11.119 put in a request for graffiti removal. You can also 0:24:12.160 --> 0:24:15.480 request that graffiti be left alone. And there's like this 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:18.840 whole procedure and process, but they give you like a 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:21.520 certain amount of time between the time you say I 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:24.400 want this graffiti removed and then the time they come out, 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.640 I guess, to give you a chance to really think 0:24:27.680 --> 0:24:30.120 about whether you want it removed or not, and then 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:30.840 they'll remove it. 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:35.240 Yeah, Like do you want the vulgar tag just spray 0:24:35.240 --> 0:24:38.359 painted across the front of a business removed? Or is 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:38.760 it art? 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:41.119 Exactly depends on who did it. 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:46.919 I guess. So eight thousand sanitation workers total, two thousand 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:50.960 other employees well eight yeah, so I guess that's ten 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:54.280 thousands total, but eight thousand actual, you know, sort of. 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:59.040 You know, bag slingers and cleaner uppers. They're known as 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:03.119 New York's Strong. They are ninety percent mail, right, now, 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:07.159 so props to that ninety percent, and really props to 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:10.320 that ten percent of these ladies that are getting in 0:25:10.359 --> 0:25:14.040 there and getting their hands dirty, because it is tough, tough, 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:15.840 dangerous work. 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:19.639 Yes. So one of the things, one of the reasons 0:25:19.680 --> 0:25:23.920 that it's particularly dangerous for sanitation workers in New York 0:25:24.040 --> 0:25:26.960 is again because they use bags. They're not in cans. 0:25:27.080 --> 0:25:29.840 If you've not been to New York, just imagine bags 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:33.800 of trash just piled everywhere. The problem is when they're 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:37.840 grabbing them and throwing them in the truck, they're probably 0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:41.280 trying to avoid garbage juice, which is a very distracting thing. 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:44.720 It's very gross. It's rarely harmful, but you don't want 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:46.600 it on you, but it can distract you from things 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:50.000 that can harm you, like some rusty, sharp thing poking 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:51.679 out of the bag that you put your hand on. 0:25:52.600 --> 0:25:56.159 There's a lot of hazards. Sometimes the stuff that's in 0:25:56.200 --> 0:25:59.160 there could pose a hazard to you in other ways, 0:25:59.160 --> 0:26:02.600 like garbage juice. There's an article I found from nineteen 0:26:02.640 --> 0:26:06.840 ninety six where sanitation worker named Michael Hanley died because 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:11.320 some jerk threw hydrofluoric acid away in with the regular 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:14.280 garbage and when it was compressed in the hopper, it 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:18.919 exploded and Hanley inhaled it and died basically on the spot. 0:26:19.480 --> 0:26:23.199 Yeah, I mean that's the thing that happens when that hopper, 0:26:23.600 --> 0:26:26.760 you know, squishes all that stuff down, there's gonna be 0:26:26.800 --> 0:26:28.800 stuff that sprays out. They you know, try to get 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:32.440 out of the way, but sometimes they can't. And Olivia 0:26:32.560 --> 0:26:36.760 found this another fun little factoid here that apparently enough 0:26:36.800 --> 0:26:41.919 of that garbage juice is coffee related that whatever season 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:44.800 it is, if it's like pumpkin, spiceason and whatever, the 0:26:44.840 --> 0:26:48.200 sanitation workers just like it's like, oh God, here comes 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:49.760 the pumpkin this you know, this fall. 0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:53.600 Yeah, I can imagine that just gets really old, really fast, 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:58.000 you imagine, Yeah, because it's the worst version of that coffee. 0:26:58.080 --> 0:27:01.720 It's not hot and fresh and in the it's cold 0:27:01.760 --> 0:27:03.920 and runny and mixed with other stuff and leaking out 0:27:03.920 --> 0:27:05.040 of a garbage bag. 0:27:04.920 --> 0:27:05.960 Like hydrofluoric acid. 0:27:07.000 --> 0:27:09.479 So there's also it's also just hard, Like a lot 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:11.320 of this stuff is very heavy. You can fit a 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:14.400 lot of stuff into a trash bag, and apparently residential 0:27:14.440 --> 0:27:17.640 places with compactors use what are called sausage bags where 0:27:17.640 --> 0:27:21.240 you can fit multiple compacted rounds of trash into one 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:24.400 single bag. You need two people to toss those in, 0:27:24.880 --> 0:27:28.040 and then the cans. They're also in charge of the cans, 0:27:28.119 --> 0:27:32.919 right Like I think those little very famous kind of 0:27:33.240 --> 0:27:37.639 mesh wire New York City trash cans that open like 0:27:37.680 --> 0:27:40.680 a door, I think at the base. Yeah, am I 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:41.480 making sense here? 0:27:41.840 --> 0:27:44.600 Sort of just streak winner trash cans. 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:46.560 Let's just call them that. 0:27:47.080 --> 0:27:51.000 Those weigh thirty pounds empty. So I've never seen a 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:54.439 New York City trash can that wasn't absolutely overflowing. So 0:27:54.480 --> 0:27:57.040 that's a lot more weight, and they're doing that by hand. 0:27:57.680 --> 0:27:59.399 Some of these routes can have as many a four 0:27:59.520 --> 0:28:00.120 hundred of yay. 0:28:00.880 --> 0:28:02.080 So that's so crazy. 0:28:02.080 --> 0:28:05.000 I just really really really hard strenuous labor. 0:28:05.600 --> 0:28:08.159 You also, so you said that there's never a New 0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:11.439 York City corner of trash can that is empty. So 0:28:11.920 --> 0:28:14.400 I found a study from nineteen eighty seven that estimated 0:28:14.400 --> 0:28:16.800 that a sixty pound can so a trash can with 0:28:16.840 --> 0:28:18.960 about thirty pounds of waste. You can imagine that's probably 0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:23.639 pretty average. To lift it the forty inches into the 0:28:23.680 --> 0:28:26.080 hopper and dump it requires three and a half horse 0:28:26.119 --> 0:28:30.680 power from the sanitation worker, and then, like you said, 0:28:30.720 --> 0:28:33.000 there might be four hundred of those on a route. 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:35.679 I just can't imagine how just tired you would be 0:28:35.720 --> 0:28:36.199 at the end of. 0:28:36.240 --> 0:28:38.800 This well and all this stuff you're breathing in too, 0:28:39.480 --> 0:28:42.720 especially if you're a street sweeper. All kinds of you know, 0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:48.680 sort of respiratory issues can pop up before COVID, you know, 0:28:48.720 --> 0:28:50.920 before people are like, hey, maybe we should wear masks 0:28:50.960 --> 0:28:55.920 and sanitize things. Thousands of New York City workers got 0:28:55.960 --> 0:28:59.160 sick during the early COVID days. Nine of them died. 0:29:00.000 --> 0:29:04.480 About one hundred sanitation workers died from illnesses cleaning up 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:08.160 Ground zero. So it is a you know, not only 0:29:08.240 --> 0:29:11.000 is it a strenuous job and can be dangerous because 0:29:11.000 --> 0:29:13.479 of you know, sharp and rusty things, but it's just 0:29:13.880 --> 0:29:16.280 it's just hard on your body period. Right. 0:29:17.400 --> 0:29:20.520 Fortunately they have a really good union. They're are members 0:29:20.520 --> 0:29:24.840 of Teamster's Local eight thirty one, the Uniform Sanitation Men's Association, 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:29.440 and thanks to the union, they when you are an 0:29:29.560 --> 0:29:32.880 entry level sanitation worker, you start out making forty three thousand, 0:29:32.920 --> 0:29:35.840 three hundred and five dollars a year, not great, which 0:29:35.880 --> 0:29:37.960 is no especially in New York. It's hard to live 0:29:38.000 --> 0:29:39.840 on that but if you stick with it for five 0:29:39.880 --> 0:29:43.160 and a half years, it more than doubles to eighty 0:29:43.200 --> 0:29:45.040 eighty nine hundred and seventy nine. 0:29:45.160 --> 0:29:45.960 That's pretty great. 0:29:46.280 --> 0:29:48.400 Yeah, And once you reach that point, there are plenty 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:51.000 of New York City sanitation workers that are making one 0:29:51.080 --> 0:29:54.600 hundred thousand dollars or over from all of the extra 0:29:55.480 --> 0:29:58.160 pay that can come from bonus work, like they get 0:29:58.240 --> 0:30:01.680 triple overtime for snow removal and stuff like that. So 0:30:02.160 --> 0:30:05.400 you can make a pretty good middle class income for 0:30:05.520 --> 0:30:08.959 New York City as a sanitation worker just from sticking 0:30:09.000 --> 0:30:11.120 with it for a few years. Plus Also, you can 0:30:11.160 --> 0:30:14.680 retire in just over twenty years too, with full benefits. 0:30:14.800 --> 0:30:17.320 Yeah, I mean that's that's a big deal. You get 0:30:17.360 --> 0:30:20.200 about eighteen days of vacation. But if you start in 0:30:20.240 --> 0:30:23.480 your early twenties, you put in your twenty two years. 0:30:23.480 --> 0:30:25.680 They don't have like an age thing where like you 0:30:25.720 --> 0:30:28.040 have to work to a certain age. So if you 0:30:28.080 --> 0:30:30.560 start in your early twenties, you could potentially retire with 0:30:30.920 --> 0:30:35.040 your full pension in your early to mid forties. And 0:30:35.720 --> 0:30:37.640 you know, you could do a lot worse than. 0:30:37.480 --> 0:30:41.240 That for sure, Yeah, because I mean you just you 0:30:41.280 --> 0:30:43.040 can be like, well, I want to keep working, but 0:30:43.080 --> 0:30:44.720 I'll go over here and take this other job, but 0:30:44.760 --> 0:30:47.240 I'll still get paid for my old job because I retired. 0:30:47.520 --> 0:30:52.240 Exactly. You do have to pass a civil service exam. 0:30:52.400 --> 0:30:55.320 You have to get your CDL, your commercial driver's license. 0:30:56.000 --> 0:30:58.680 There's about a month of training and then you have 0:30:58.720 --> 0:31:00.680 to you know, once you get that license. They have 0:31:00.720 --> 0:31:04.440 a little practice area where they practice, like a little 0:31:04.440 --> 0:31:08.120 obstacle course basically to you practice driving that garbage truck, 0:31:08.160 --> 0:31:11.640 because you know, driving the New York is I find 0:31:11.640 --> 0:31:14.760 it enjoyable and kind of fun and exciting, but driving 0:31:14.800 --> 0:31:17.920 a garbage truck, imagine, is tough. There's stuff all over 0:31:17.960 --> 0:31:21.160 the place and you can't just mad max it through there, 0:31:21.200 --> 0:31:22.080 you know, No. 0:31:22.520 --> 0:31:24.800 You can't because people get killed like that. Because there's 0:31:24.840 --> 0:31:28.840 a lot of people walking and running and riding bikes 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:30.680 around New York that you have to look out for. 0:31:30.840 --> 0:31:33.000 Yeah, increasingly distracted people, we should. 0:31:32.720 --> 0:31:33.600 Add, right. 0:31:34.400 --> 0:31:38.000 Yeah, So we said that they shut down all of 0:31:38.040 --> 0:31:41.080 the landfills within New York's borders, but that means that 0:31:41.120 --> 0:31:43.959 they have to ship this trash one way or another 0:31:44.040 --> 0:31:47.840 outside of New York. Some of it gets diverted to incinerators. 0:31:47.840 --> 0:31:50.080 They're like we don't want incinerators in New York because 0:31:50.080 --> 0:31:53.400 it contributes to poor air quality, but we'll pay you 0:31:53.480 --> 0:31:58.520 to burn it for us elsewhere. Fortunately, they've now converted 0:31:58.560 --> 0:32:02.160 some of those incinerators to waste to energy plants, so 0:32:02.200 --> 0:32:06.160 you're actually getting something out of burning the trash. 0:32:05.640 --> 0:32:08.840 As far as these waste of energy plants go. If 0:32:08.880 --> 0:32:11.360 you're thinking, like, what do you mean they burn trash 0:32:11.360 --> 0:32:14.080 and get something out of it, it's it basically works 0:32:14.120 --> 0:32:16.440 just like coal would like any kind of energy creation 0:32:16.680 --> 0:32:21.000 like that is just burning something to create steam to 0:32:21.080 --> 0:32:23.320 spend that, you know, to boil water to create steam 0:32:23.320 --> 0:32:25.640 to spin that turbine. And in this case, they just 0:32:25.680 --> 0:32:28.200 burn trash instead of coal, right, which you think is like, 0:32:28.280 --> 0:32:31.120 oh that's great. You know, we may maybe this should 0:32:31.120 --> 0:32:33.680 be a whole episode at one point, but there there 0:32:33.680 --> 0:32:36.840 are a lot of people say like, these are an 0:32:36.920 --> 0:32:40.719 environmental nightmare. You are creating energy, but you're also creating 0:32:40.760 --> 0:32:43.640 a landfill in the sky by what you're putting into 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:46.560 the air, So we might want to look into that 0:32:46.600 --> 0:32:47.640 as a full one at some point. 0:32:47.960 --> 0:32:50.720 Remember we did our plasma waste generator episode, and that 0:32:50.800 --> 0:32:53.920 thing was flawless in its design and execution, But I 0:32:53.920 --> 0:32:55.880 don't think that's what they're using for these waste to 0:32:56.000 --> 0:32:59.280 energy plants. I don't think so. So some of the 0:32:59.320 --> 0:33:02.360 garbage just be diverted and incinerated, But from what I understand, 0:33:02.400 --> 0:33:05.840 the vast majority is sent outside of New York to 0:33:06.120 --> 0:33:10.120 landfills in places like Virginia or South Carolina or Ohio. 0:33:10.520 --> 0:33:13.240 And the way that they get there predominantly is by 0:33:14.200 --> 0:33:18.080 rail and by barge. And so New York set up 0:33:18.440 --> 0:33:22.840 five what are called marine transfer stations that are amazing 0:33:23.200 --> 0:33:25.040 if you look into Did you look into them at all, 0:33:25.040 --> 0:33:26.640 because they're crazy awesome? 0:33:27.240 --> 0:33:31.720 I did, and they are crazy awesome. Yeah, those marine stations. 0:33:31.760 --> 0:33:33.640 I think they built those that were about a twenty 0:33:33.720 --> 0:33:37.560 year period starting in the early two thousands. There's five 0:33:37.640 --> 0:33:41.080 of them. The neighborhoods you know where these were going 0:33:41.160 --> 0:33:44.080 to be near, were obviously not too excited about them 0:33:44.680 --> 0:33:48.000 when you know when they were first proposed. But apparently 0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:50.360 they've done a pretty good job. As far as the 0:33:50.440 --> 0:33:53.720 smell goes, They aren't too stinky. I think it's noise 0:33:53.840 --> 0:33:56.959 more than anything, because you're you constantly just have trucks 0:33:57.000 --> 0:33:59.600 going in and out of there, right, But they've done 0:33:59.600 --> 0:34:04.960 a great job with deodorizing and venting this stuff. Even 0:34:05.040 --> 0:34:08.400 have hawk calls being played on loudspeakers to keep seagulls 0:34:08.400 --> 0:34:11.080 away because that would be a nightmare. Oh yeah, but 0:34:11.160 --> 0:34:13.160 apparently they're not as bad as everyone thought they were 0:34:13.160 --> 0:34:13.480 gonna be. 0:34:13.600 --> 0:34:16.000 No plus, Also, the neighborhoods that they're in are like 0:34:16.080 --> 0:34:20.280 already kind of ports, and there's other industry nearby anyway, 0:34:20.680 --> 0:34:23.480 And they set up essentially access roads so that when 0:34:23.520 --> 0:34:26.800 the trucks start backing up, they're not on the street, 0:34:26.840 --> 0:34:29.960 they're off of the street. And then the whole thing 0:34:30.040 --> 0:34:33.520 is enclosed, right, So garbage truck goes into the building, 0:34:34.040 --> 0:34:38.320 sealed shipping container comes out the other side, and inside 0:34:38.320 --> 0:34:40.280 the building. Like you said, they've taken all these measures 0:34:40.360 --> 0:34:42.640 to keep the smell down and just keep it from 0:34:42.680 --> 0:34:45.640 being gross. But what happens is a garbage truck comes in, 0:34:45.760 --> 0:34:50.440 backs up to the tipping station, tips its contents all 0:34:50.480 --> 0:34:54.440 the way down to the next story down. Next story 0:34:54.440 --> 0:34:58.880 down is just basically like that trash compactor in Star Wars, 0:34:59.040 --> 0:35:03.239 the first one. It's essentially like that, but rather than 0:35:03.280 --> 0:35:06.600 having like that pneumatic arm crush everything, they have front 0:35:06.600 --> 0:35:10.920 loaders that basically push all the stuff into shipping containers, 0:35:11.400 --> 0:35:14.480 and a shipping container can hold just over about two 0:35:14.480 --> 0:35:18.440 full trucks worth of waste I think twenty five tons. 0:35:18.960 --> 0:35:23.120 They top that thing off, seal it and say here 0:35:23.160 --> 0:35:25.640 you go, waste management take over from here. 0:35:26.040 --> 0:35:27.799 Yeah, and you know you mentioned some of this goes 0:35:27.840 --> 0:35:33.080 to different states. I saw that almost all of Manhattan's 0:35:33.080 --> 0:35:39.360 trash goes to New Jersey. Oh nice, sorry, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, 0:35:39.440 --> 0:35:42.000 and Ohio is where most of the rest of it goes, 0:35:42.360 --> 0:35:47.160 as far as landfills go. And then weirdly, Staten Island 0:35:47.200 --> 0:35:48.560 trash goes to South Carolina. 0:35:49.680 --> 0:35:50.600 That is a little weird. 0:35:51.000 --> 0:35:53.480 I don't know why, but I guess they just, you know, 0:35:53.560 --> 0:35:55.600 worked out an exchange program or something. 0:35:55.880 --> 0:35:59.400 Yeah, and I guess it's totally up to private companies. 0:35:59.400 --> 0:36:02.640 Like I said, waste management's a good example of taking 0:36:02.640 --> 0:36:05.360 possession of the shipping containers, stacking them up on barges. 0:36:05.400 --> 0:36:07.640 I think you can fit like forty eight full on 0:36:07.719 --> 0:36:10.440 a barge and taking an on a slow boat to 0:36:10.480 --> 0:36:14.360 South Carolina, or taking it upriver to Niagara Falls. I 0:36:14.360 --> 0:36:16.719 think that's where one of the incinerators is. Niagara, New 0:36:16.800 --> 0:36:20.600 York yeah. And then also if it's somewhere like Ohio, 0:36:20.800 --> 0:36:23.480 it's very tough to sail a barge to Ohio, so 0:36:23.600 --> 0:36:26.080 you just take it to a rail station and the 0:36:26.120 --> 0:36:30.799 shipping containers get shipped by rail to Ohio where it 0:36:30.840 --> 0:36:31.520 gets dumped. 0:36:32.280 --> 0:36:34.680 All right, maybe all actually right, before we take a break, 0:36:34.760 --> 0:36:38.160 let's cover this one more thing I think, which is 0:36:38.239 --> 0:36:40.640 if you've lost something and you want to get it 0:36:40.680 --> 0:36:45.680 back in the trash, it's probably not going to happen, 0:36:45.719 --> 0:36:47.360 but it really depends on how good of a looker 0:36:47.400 --> 0:36:49.879 you are, because what you'll do is is you'll call 0:36:49.960 --> 0:36:54.680 up You'll say I lost a wedding ring in the garbage. 0:36:55.400 --> 0:36:57.560 I'm pretty upset about this, and they say, oh great, 0:36:57.560 --> 0:37:00.520 we have a program called the Lost Valuable Search. Just 0:37:00.520 --> 0:37:03.560 come on down to the Marine transfer station. We'll work 0:37:03.600 --> 0:37:07.000 with you to determine which truck is yours. And then 0:37:07.719 --> 0:37:09.920 there's a huge pile of trash and you have ninety 0:37:09.960 --> 0:37:13.279 minutes to go through and find it by yourself, and 0:37:13.880 --> 0:37:16.360 or I guess, with whatever friends you are able to 0:37:16.440 --> 0:37:17.360 talk into coming with you. 0:37:17.760 --> 0:37:20.040 And people have they found all sorts of stuff. 0:37:20.120 --> 0:37:21.680 Sure it happens, Yeah. 0:37:21.520 --> 0:37:23.879 It does happen. Apparently, Also there's people who are like, oh, 0:37:23.880 --> 0:37:25.560 that's what I have to do. Just forget about it. 0:37:25.800 --> 0:37:29.080 I'm good. Thanks anyway, Yeah, I'll get a new wedding ring. 0:37:29.640 --> 0:37:31.239 So let's take a break and we'll come back and 0:37:31.280 --> 0:37:34.400 talk about some of the shady business that goes on 0:37:34.480 --> 0:37:35.600 in the private industry. 0:37:35.760 --> 0:38:02.160 All right, cool, okay, Chuck. 0:38:02.239 --> 0:38:05.400 So we said that the city picks up residential trash, 0:38:05.400 --> 0:38:08.080 but for the most part, commercial trash like stores, office 0:38:08.080 --> 0:38:14.400 buildings industry that's handled by private companies. And that's not 0:38:14.520 --> 0:38:16.520 actually new. That goes all the way back to I 0:38:16.560 --> 0:38:19.600 think the mid to late fifties, nineteen fifty seven, I 0:38:19.640 --> 0:38:23.160 think when the city was like, hey, we could use 0:38:23.200 --> 0:38:27.000 some help collecting trash. How about private companies get involved? 0:38:27.080 --> 0:38:30.560 And the mafia sat up and said, yes, let's do that. 0:38:31.320 --> 0:38:35.720 And apparently the Gambino and Genovese crime families were really 0:38:35.760 --> 0:38:40.000 big into what's called karting. It's private trash collection. Yeah, 0:38:40.080 --> 0:38:45.800 for decades it was extraordinarily corrupt, and finally in the nineties, 0:38:46.719 --> 0:38:50.360 New York did something about it, got the crime families 0:38:50.400 --> 0:38:54.000 out of the karting business. But the companies are like 0:38:54.080 --> 0:38:57.600 no less shady than they were before, and they're just 0:38:57.640 --> 0:39:00.600 shady in different ways. Whereas before they were screwing over 0:39:00.640 --> 0:39:04.080 the customers, now they're screwing over the workers. Because back then, 0:39:04.120 --> 0:39:07.480 at least they had they were mob run, but they 0:39:07.480 --> 0:39:11.480 were in really good unions. And as these private companies 0:39:11.520 --> 0:39:14.239 came along, they don't have very good unions. So I 0:39:14.239 --> 0:39:18.160 saw somewhere that a worker at a private company today 0:39:18.840 --> 0:39:22.560 makes less as a driver for a truck than a 0:39:22.640 --> 0:39:27.759 helper made in nineteen eighty five. Wow, sixteen dollars an hour. 0:39:27.920 --> 0:39:31.840 They make less than that nineteen eighty five to twenty sixteen. 0:39:32.040 --> 0:39:35.040 Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that's what happens when you have 0:39:35.160 --> 0:39:37.920 a union that's good, that goes away in favor of 0:39:38.000 --> 0:39:41.239 union that's bad and that's in cahoots with the ownership, 0:39:42.000 --> 0:39:43.640 or if there is no union at all, which is 0:39:43.680 --> 0:39:46.360 in case some true wouldn't. 0:39:45.960 --> 0:39:47.240 Tony Soprano win sanitation? 0:39:47.480 --> 0:39:49.760 Or didn't he say he was, yes, he was in karting? 0:39:50.080 --> 0:39:52.400 Yeah, yeah, I remember that. I also remember when I 0:39:52.400 --> 0:39:56.799 lived in New Jersey, the Italian. I'm not saying it 0:39:56.840 --> 0:39:59.680 was a mafia truck because that would be wrong to 0:39:59.680 --> 0:40:02.480 as but whoever picked up our trash had a big 0:40:02.520 --> 0:40:05.839 Italian name on the side of the truck. And it 0:40:05.880 --> 0:40:08.719 was during that time of the Sopranos where I was 0:40:08.760 --> 0:40:09.959 kind of like, what's going on here? 0:40:10.600 --> 0:40:12.759 Oh, you know, what's going on there? But supposedly that 0:40:12.840 --> 0:40:15.120 was after they cleaned things up, although that was Jersey huh, 0:40:15.200 --> 0:40:19.160 So yeah, they probably didn't. That was probably mafia run well. 0:40:19.200 --> 0:40:21.040 And it was also mid nineties, so I think they 0:40:21.040 --> 0:40:23.480 were just like, that's when they were cleaning it up. 0:40:23.880 --> 0:40:24.280 Gotcha. 0:40:25.000 --> 0:40:29.520 So there are about two hundred and fifty private handlers 0:40:30.120 --> 0:40:34.200 that are now overseen by the Business Integrity Commission, which 0:40:34.320 --> 0:40:37.320 may as well be called the Don't let the Mafia 0:40:37.360 --> 0:40:43.960 get Involved Commission And sometimes yeah, except exactly so you mentioned, 0:40:43.960 --> 0:40:47.440 you know, just bad conditions in some of these private companies, 0:40:47.480 --> 0:40:51.680 like very long work hours, maybe safety training maybe not, 0:40:52.120 --> 0:40:57.040 maybe safety gear maybe not there. If you hear of 0:40:57.080 --> 0:41:00.399 a story about a pedestrian that's killed in New York 0:41:00.440 --> 0:41:03.920 by a garbage truck, chances are it's a private company. 0:41:04.000 --> 0:41:08.080 Not always, but they're much much higher incidents of I 0:41:08.080 --> 0:41:10.239 didn't say incidences. Somebody called us out on that. 0:41:10.320 --> 0:41:14.120 You remember that, Yeah, Yeah, it's what we're really progressing 0:41:14.160 --> 0:41:15.480 here in year sixteen. 0:41:15.280 --> 0:41:18.680 Hey, we're trying to, but many more incidents from the 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:23.560 private companies, you know, running over somebody than the DSNY, 0:41:23.640 --> 0:41:27.160 and largely because of training, but also because they're just 0:41:27.239 --> 0:41:30.520 they're working too long, they're too tired, and they have 0:41:30.600 --> 0:41:31.880 too much to do in general. 0:41:32.239 --> 0:41:37.200 Yeah, an investigative journalist named Kiara Feldman wrote an article 0:41:37.360 --> 0:41:40.920 for Pro Public called Trashed, and I don't remember what 0:41:41.000 --> 0:41:44.800 came after the colon, but it is. It's really eye opening. 0:41:44.920 --> 0:41:47.120 I mean, even if you don't care about trash collection 0:41:47.360 --> 0:41:50.239 or New York City, just the fact that people are 0:41:50.280 --> 0:41:53.879 being treated this way is just nuts. Man. So it's 0:41:54.280 --> 0:41:57.160 definitely worth a read if this episode piqued your interest 0:41:57.200 --> 0:41:57.560 at all. 0:41:58.040 --> 0:42:01.239 Yeah, there's an African immigrant name uk Diallo. And I 0:42:01.239 --> 0:42:03.320 don't think we mentioned that some of these private companies 0:42:03.360 --> 0:42:07.520 will just like, you know, pick up the dude in 0:42:07.560 --> 0:42:10.239 the parking lot that's looking for day work. So they're 0:42:10.280 --> 0:42:13.239 not covered at all or insured or anything like that. 0:42:13.239 --> 0:42:15.319 They'll just like, we'll pay you under the table to 0:42:15.440 --> 0:42:18.359 like run out in front of the truck and get 0:42:18.400 --> 0:42:20.880 bags out, you know, to where they can be collected easier. 0:42:21.480 --> 0:42:24.160 And Muktar was one of these guys, and he was 0:42:24.840 --> 0:42:29.319 crushed under a truck. And when it came time to 0:42:29.360 --> 0:42:32.440 talk about this, the company said this, we do know 0:42:32.480 --> 0:42:34.680 this guy. He just is a homeless guy that ran 0:42:34.719 --> 0:42:37.160 out in front of the truck. And of course it 0:42:37.239 --> 0:42:40.800 later came out what really happened. So in twenty nineteen, 0:42:41.239 --> 0:42:43.160 a New York passed a law that said, all right, 0:42:43.600 --> 0:42:46.319 we're dividing this into zones. Now there can be no 0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:49.799 more than three companies picking up in each zone, just 0:42:49.840 --> 0:42:52.000 trying to sort of rein in the chaos a little bit. 0:42:52.640 --> 0:42:54.239 And you have to if you want to do this, 0:42:54.280 --> 0:42:57.320 you have to sign a contract that meets certain standards 0:42:57.320 --> 0:43:00.839 of safety and working conditions. And it's you know, it's 0:43:00.920 --> 0:43:04.640 kind of being implemented now, so it is still currently 0:43:04.719 --> 0:43:05.560 changing for the better. 0:43:05.840 --> 0:43:09.360 Yeah, and you mentioned all the miles that the DSNY 0:43:09.400 --> 0:43:13.440 travels just on their routes every year, these commercial haulers 0:43:13.520 --> 0:43:16.759 might be driving from what you know, one one spot 0:43:17.200 --> 0:43:20.000 to many many blocks over to the next spot. Yeah, 0:43:20.040 --> 0:43:23.320 and just wasting so much time and burning so much gas. 0:43:23.719 --> 0:43:26.719 Whereas if it's like there's only three companies in this 0:43:26.840 --> 0:43:30.200 one quadrant, they're going to be driving a lot around 0:43:30.239 --> 0:43:31.960 a lot less. And they're also going to be burning 0:43:32.000 --> 0:43:35.080 a lot more, a lot fewer fossil fuels and releasing 0:43:35.080 --> 0:43:38.320 fewer emissions too, So it's all together a pretty good plan. 0:43:38.800 --> 0:43:41.520 Of course, the companies are like, can't do that, Like 0:43:41.640 --> 0:43:45.280 what about competition? But New York's not really listening apparently, 0:43:45.520 --> 0:43:47.960 And that's what's happening right now. And that's just part 0:43:47.960 --> 0:43:52.200 of another again, this larger push for reforming the whole 0:43:52.239 --> 0:43:55.880 place under Eric Adams and Jessica Tish, and one of 0:43:55.880 --> 0:43:58.200 the big ones is getting rid of the black bags 0:43:58.239 --> 0:44:01.640 in favor of container like the same plastic bins that 0:44:01.680 --> 0:44:04.480 you see in basically every other city in the world 0:44:04.480 --> 0:44:07.760 in one way, shape or form or another. New York's 0:44:07.800 --> 0:44:09.480 finally being like, we're going to get in on that. 0:44:10.120 --> 0:44:13.680 Are they black backs? I think they were blue? 0:44:14.080 --> 0:44:16.880 There's blue too, Okay, yeah, they have all different colors, 0:44:16.920 --> 0:44:18.399 but there's definitely blue as well. 0:44:18.480 --> 0:44:20.239 Yes, okay, how was it? Sure? It's been a while, 0:44:20.239 --> 0:44:22.080 but I just have a visual in my head of 0:44:22.120 --> 0:44:25.719 like mountains of blue bags on trash Day. And if 0:44:25.760 --> 0:44:28.120 you've never been to New York at all, or you 0:44:28.440 --> 0:44:31.880 haven't been many times, you would probably be shocked to 0:44:32.120 --> 0:44:36.040 come out on trash Day on a hot summer, rainy 0:44:36.120 --> 0:44:39.920 trash day, because it's quite a sight and quite a smell. 0:44:40.000 --> 0:44:44.360 But like you said, they're moving toward bins in just 0:44:44.440 --> 0:44:47.600 a few months ago. In February of this year, they said, 0:44:47.600 --> 0:44:50.600 all right, here's our new plan we're going to get. 0:44:50.600 --> 0:44:52.719 If you've got a smaller apartment building, you're going to 0:44:52.800 --> 0:44:55.960 have those little wheelie bins. Like almost every other city 0:44:55.960 --> 0:44:59.080 in the United States, if you are in a really 0:44:59.120 --> 0:45:03.360 big apartment building, it's basically a dumpster, but it's plastic, 0:45:03.400 --> 0:45:06.759 but it's like a large container. You mentioned the fact 0:45:06.760 --> 0:45:09.239 that there aren't a lot of alleys in New York. 0:45:09.960 --> 0:45:12.640 It's kind of a movie trope when you've seen alley 0:45:12.680 --> 0:45:15.560 scenes set in New York City, probably not being filmed 0:45:15.600 --> 0:45:17.520 in New York because most of the buildings on a 0:45:17.520 --> 0:45:20.520 block are just you know, crammed you right next to 0:45:20.560 --> 0:45:23.799 each other. So these dumpsters have to go somewhere. And 0:45:24.400 --> 0:45:27.160 they said, all right, we'll make them small enough to 0:45:27.200 --> 0:45:30.000 fit in a parking spot. We'll lose one hundred and 0:45:30.000 --> 0:45:33.480 fifty thousand parking spots all over the city, but we 0:45:33.920 --> 0:45:36.520 have to do it, and it'll also help us reclaim 0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:38.600 some of this sidewalk space that we're losing. 0:45:39.000 --> 0:45:42.000 Yeah, and apparently parking spots is one of the most 0:45:42.040 --> 0:45:45.600 politically charged issues in all of New York politics. 0:45:45.680 --> 0:45:46.240 I'm sure. 0:45:46.440 --> 0:45:48.480 So that's really gutsy to be like one hundred and 0:45:48.480 --> 0:45:51.040 fifty thousand parking spots are going away so we can 0:45:51.040 --> 0:45:55.360 put these bins there. And it's not even across the board. 0:45:55.360 --> 0:45:57.720 There's some blocks I read that are losing a quarter 0:45:57.840 --> 0:45:59.040 of their parking spots. 0:45:59.200 --> 0:45:59.840 Oh, I'm sure. 0:46:00.080 --> 0:46:02.560 So it's definitely going to take an adjustment, for sure. 0:46:02.920 --> 0:46:05.880 But there won't be bags of trash everywhere. They'll just 0:46:05.920 --> 0:46:08.600 be like different colored bins that are on the street, 0:46:08.680 --> 0:46:12.520 just off the sidewalk that a truck comes along and 0:46:12.560 --> 0:46:16.000 picks up. That it doesn't require human hands to throw 0:46:16.080 --> 0:46:18.120 bag after bag into the truck anymore. 0:46:18.719 --> 0:46:20.920 Boy, in New York City, the residents really have to 0:46:20.920 --> 0:46:22.760 get on board with this to make that work. 0:46:23.040 --> 0:46:26.520 Well, they did a pilot study of it in Harlem 0:46:27.120 --> 0:46:30.160 and this is back in September twenty twenty three, and 0:46:30.200 --> 0:46:33.799 apparently it was extremely successful. Yeah, rat sightings were down 0:46:33.920 --> 0:46:34.960 sixty eight percent. 0:46:35.719 --> 0:46:36.399 Where did they go? 0:46:37.440 --> 0:46:39.279 I don't know. I think they just kind of where 0:46:39.360 --> 0:46:42.600 they disappear. They go poof into nothingness after they don't 0:46:42.640 --> 0:46:43.520 eat for two days. 0:46:44.040 --> 0:46:46.719 Boy, that means they're organizing. This could get really scary. 0:46:47.000 --> 0:46:51.200 But supposedly they the people of Harlem were like, this 0:46:51.239 --> 0:46:53.719 is this is cool. We can definitely deal with this. 0:46:53.760 --> 0:46:55.640 So they're rolling it out to the rest of New York. 0:46:56.040 --> 0:46:56.279 Yeah. 0:46:56.320 --> 0:46:58.319 I think they will see the benefit to where people 0:46:58.480 --> 0:47:01.440 get on board, because what real would really screw up 0:47:01.440 --> 0:47:05.120 that system is that truck is going using the mechanics 0:47:05.160 --> 0:47:07.879 to dump those cans, but then there's four or five 0:47:07.960 --> 0:47:10.800 bags that wouldn't fit in the can just sitting there. 0:47:11.480 --> 0:47:13.080 So you're still going to have to have some people 0:47:13.160 --> 0:47:14.320 down there slinging bags. 0:47:14.520 --> 0:47:16.640 Definitely, for sure, but it should. 0:47:16.440 --> 0:47:18.839 Speed up the whole thing and clean it up if 0:47:18.880 --> 0:47:20.720 everyone If everyone chips in. 0:47:20.800 --> 0:47:23.080 Yeah, and isn't that what living in New York is 0:47:23.080 --> 0:47:26.319 all about. Everybody chipping in a little bit. 0:47:26.440 --> 0:47:26.880 For sure. 0:47:27.320 --> 0:47:28.080 You got anything else? 0:47:29.520 --> 0:47:33.360 No, just another mention of composting. They're getting that going 0:47:33.560 --> 0:47:38.080 I mentioned earlier, still pretty new program. Since twenty percent 0:47:38.080 --> 0:47:41.040 of that total waste dis food waste. If they really 0:47:41.080 --> 0:47:45.080 got a pretty efficient composting system going, then it would 0:47:45.200 --> 0:47:48.919 do a lot to reduce trash and do better things 0:47:48.960 --> 0:47:49.759 for Mother Earth. 0:47:50.680 --> 0:47:54.880 So you did have something else I did. Well, if 0:47:54.920 --> 0:47:57.200 you want to know more about New York trash collection, 0:47:57.400 --> 0:47:59.760 go to New York and just walk around and you'll 0:47:59.800 --> 0:48:01.920 find find out everything you need to know about it. 0:48:02.320 --> 0:48:05.080 And while you're booking your flight, how about it's time 0:48:05.080 --> 0:48:10.960 for listener, ma'am. 0:48:08.600 --> 0:48:13.080 I'm going to call this what is this? Oh Arson investigation? 0:48:14.120 --> 0:48:16.200 Hey guys. In twenty nineteen, I moved to Saint Paul 0:48:16.200 --> 0:48:18.839 with some friends from college. It's really fun. I made 0:48:18.840 --> 0:48:20.840 many new friends in back. Two of my roommates I 0:48:20.880 --> 0:48:24.000 had never met. One was a local rapper, the other 0:48:24.200 --> 0:48:25.120 was a firefighter. 0:48:25.120 --> 0:48:29.080 EMT Saint Paul is the arson capital of the country. 0:48:28.880 --> 0:48:32.319 Is it really? It wouldn't surprise me. After listening to 0:48:32.320 --> 0:48:35.160 this story, this guy said it was a glorious era 0:48:35.800 --> 0:48:38.680 of my life, filled with healing, fun and young adulting. 0:48:39.320 --> 0:48:40.799 Within a few months, I got a job at a 0:48:40.800 --> 0:48:44.879 discount movie theater and I was working one day when 0:48:45.080 --> 0:48:50.200 the theater got a call from our boss and said, Hey, 0:48:50.400 --> 0:48:53.959 your house is on fire. You should come by. So 0:48:54.480 --> 0:48:57.480 the firefighters walked me through the burning home. I saw 0:48:57.520 --> 0:49:01.480 no flaims, but it was smok. I went up to 0:49:01.520 --> 0:49:03.400 my room. Nothing was burnt there, which is great, but 0:49:03.440 --> 0:49:05.919 it did smell like a bondfire for about a year 0:49:06.000 --> 0:49:09.000 after that. Man, everyone was gone at the time, so 0:49:09.080 --> 0:49:12.920 nobody was heard about a month later my landlord slash boss, 0:49:13.040 --> 0:49:15.960 same person, which is why that sounded weird. Earlier I 0:49:16.160 --> 0:49:18.719 mentioned that there was a big break in the fire investigation, 0:49:19.840 --> 0:49:21.480 but made me do a little work to figure out 0:49:21.480 --> 0:49:24.600 who it was. It turns out the firefighter EMT that 0:49:24.640 --> 0:49:26.880 I lived with decided he didn't want to live with 0:49:26.960 --> 0:49:29.720 us anymore, so a week before he moved a couch 0:49:29.760 --> 0:49:32.520 to the basement and set it on fire and walked away. 0:49:32.719 --> 0:49:34.880 Oh my god, with. 0:49:36.640 --> 0:49:38.840 I only found out because he admitted it to me. 0:49:39.520 --> 0:49:42.239 My life went haywire for a while after that, but 0:49:42.280 --> 0:49:44.719 I'm happy to report that I'm settled in full on 0:49:44.840 --> 0:49:46.879 adulting with love. 0:49:47.160 --> 0:49:47.480 That is. 0:49:47.680 --> 0:49:52.839 Teagan Tour is fantastic. Quite a great, great story. Thanks 0:49:52.880 --> 0:49:55.560 a lot, Tegan, who saw that coming. I did not 0:49:55.719 --> 0:49:58.560 me that was a twist that you'd find at a 0:49:58.600 --> 0:49:59.640 discount movie theater. 0:50:00.120 --> 0:50:00.400 Right. 0:50:01.239 --> 0:50:02.719 Well, if you want to be like Tea in and 0:50:02.760 --> 0:50:05.319 send us an amazing story about something we talked about, 0:50:05.360 --> 0:50:07.440 we love that kind of thing. You can send it 0:50:07.520 --> 0:50:13.560 via email to stuff podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 0:50:13.680 --> 0:50:16.000 Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:50:16.480 --> 0:50:20.839 For more podcasts myheart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:50:20.960 --> 0:50:22.800 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.