Trashtastic Tuesday with Professor Robin Nagle

Last month, I attended a lecture on the history of sanitation in New York City given by Robin Nagle, a professor of anthropology at NYU co-teaching a class on making a museum AND holder of the supercool title “Anthropologist in Residence” for New York City’s Department of Sanitation. Today, Professor Nagle has been kind enough to answer some follow-up questions for the very exciting revivial of Trashtastic Tuesdays, everyone’s favorite irregular weekly blog feature!

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everydaytrash: As an anthropologist, what drew you to the subject of trash?

Nagle: I was originally drawn to the subject of trash through one central question that continues to inspire and confound me. How is it that we are content to “throw” “away” our garbage with little or no regard for what happens to it next? Subsidiary questions grow from that. Just what does happen next? Who picks it up? What’s it like to pick it up? Where does it go? How does it get there? Then what happens?

Luckily for me, each answer opens a new bundle of fascinating questions.

everydaytrash: How does one become the anthropologist-in-residence for the city’s sanitation department and what does that job entail?

Nagle: One bombs as a sanitation worker but wants to maintain a title within the DSNY, so one proposes “anthropologist-in-residence” to enable one to draw on one’s training, one’s experience within the DSNY, and one’s larger goals within the context of the Department.

The job entails good old-fashioned fieldwork — taking part in parade clean-ups, snow storm responses, hanging with people on their rounds, interviewing current and retired employees. It also entails putting together the nuts and bolts that will one day be the DSNY Museum. And it entails writing about the DSNY — its work, its mission its history.

 

everydaytrash: I visited the student exhibit, Loaded Out: Making a Museum. In your ideal world, what would a full-fledged sanitation museum look like?

Nagle: A full-fledged DSNY Museum will have permanent and revolving exhibitions that reveal the fascinating history of sanitation and public health in the context of urban America and especially in the context of New York City. At least one exhibit will always focus on some aspect of the work involved in keeping New York alive by keeping the city’s streets clean. And the DSNY Museum will house the Wall of Honor, which lists all employees who have been killed in the line of duty since the Department came into being in 1881.

The museum will have educational initiatives that will appeal to school children, scholars, and everyone in between. It will include historic and contemporary equipment, trucks, carts, sweepers, mechanical brooms, flushers, wreckers, uniforms, tools. There will archives in digital and hardcopy form that will hold all sanitation-related material we can collect from within New York City, and that will point to related resources in other places.

The museum space itself, which will be vibrant, colorful, and welcoming, will be used for community and DSNY-related events, including meetings of the DSNY benevolent societies and DSNY pipe-and-drum band rehearsals.

Phew! It’s a big dream. But you gotta start somewhere.

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Photos ripped from the Slate.com and DSNY Web sites.

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• The Italian army begins cleanup in Naples while non-trahsies around the world catch on to the ongoing trash crisis;
• Organizers in the Philippines call for a green counter-celebration to clean up after a trash-generating religious feast; and
• New York City will soon require big stores to provide plastic bag recycling.

Where I’ll be tonight

Check out this exciting trashie event listing via nonsense nyc, I’ll let you know all about it by the weekend!
The NYC Department of Sanitation and New York University present:

A free illustrated lecture, exhibition tour, and status report on the DSNY museum-in-the-making by Robin Nagle, Ph.D., DSNY Anthropologist-in-Residence, and Haidy Geismar, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, NYU.

New York City choked on its own trash for much of its early existence. Until Gotham got serious about sanitation, foul-smelling streets, staggering infant mortality rates, and short life expectancies were normal characteristics of city life.

Using newly rediscovered photos from the DSNY’s own collection, Profs. Nagle and Geismar will recount how the Department of Street Cleaning and its successor, the Department of Sanitation, transformed New York from a public health minefield to a safe and sanitary home for millions. They will also describe their recent efforts to create a permanent NYC Department of Sanitation Museum.

The lecture will take place within the ongoing exhibition Loaded Out: Making a Museum. Profs. Nagle and Geismar will conduct a brief tour of the exhibit after their talk. On display are rare historical DSNY images and memorabilia, including a scale replica of a DSNY tugboat and barge, built by sanitation craftsmen in 1952; a sanitation worker’s uniform, customized for the 1939 World’s Fair; a pith helmet worn by one of the White Wings, NYC’s famous white-uniformed street cleaners of the 1890s; and vintage film footage describing the varied duties of the DSNY in 1950.

136 West 20th Street, second floor, between 6th and 7th avenues, Manhattan
6pm,

Continues SUNDAY, January 13 at 6p
212 998 8065
robin.nagle[at]nyu.edu

Who knew the department of sanitation had an anthropologist in residence?!

Hometown Trash

Oh my trashies, if only Internet access in Ouagadougou weren’t so precarious this week I would take my time to delve into wonky depths of NYC trash wars.  Alas, I must use this precious online access to send reports back to the day job.  Lucky for you, Gotham Gazette knows their trash!

Trashtastic Thursday with Harry J. Bubbins

Trashtastic Tuesday comes early this week (or late, depending on your world view). Note that the everydaytrash post flow may trickle down next week. I’ll be in Budapest. Stay tuned for stories of Euro and post-Communist trash. In the meantime…

I got an email yesterday from Harry J. Bubbins of Friends of Brook Park in the Bronx. The subject line read “Garbage Takes the Train BS” and the content below was a little back and forth between neighborhood environmental justice activists declaring a blurb from the nytimes.com “propaganda”. I read the blurb, then emailed Harry for more info on his group and concerns. Here’s what he had to say about trash in the Bronx and the sad fact that in our city of islands, it’s pretty freakin’ hard to access the water.

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everydaytrash: So, I heard the city is now using trains to transport trash OUT of the Bronx, what about the trash coming IN?

Harry J. Bubbins: The Bronx, and specifically the South South Bronx, the Port Morris and Mott Haven neighborhoods handle almost all the garbage. Besides the borough waste, we handle trash from Manhattan and Queens as well. This is because the Mayor’s Solid Waste Management Plan, approved by the NYC Council has been stalled by three Upper West Side State legislators who refuse to handle Manhattan’s waste in Manhattan. The direct outcome of their recalcitrance is an increase of diesel truck traffic in the most at-risk for asthma communities and a dream deferred for a significant step towards environmental justice.

everydaytrash: What are the Harlem River Rail Yards?

Bubbins: The Harlem River Rail yards refer to the 96 acres site at the southern most tip of the Bronx that is owned by the people of New York through the NYS Department of Transportation. This site has been leased for 99 years for a sweetheart deal to Galesi Grouo, whose head was involved with Enron and such. They in turn sublease to Waste Management, the largest and most profitable waste handler in the hemisphere. WM was recently awarded a no bid contract for $1 billion to handle the NYC waste, despite providing no local amenities and an almost year long labor strike in 2006. We are at the mercy of this monopoly for carting out our waste. Currently, there is no public access along the waterfront of the Rail Yards, despite contractual obligations in the lease to provide access to the river and a bridge to Randall’s Island for South Bronx residents. We’d like to see 1,000 trees planted along the truck route corridors, public access to the waterfront, an environmental center, and green affordable housing in the yards footprint.

everydaytrash: How did the Friends of Brook Park waterfront project come about? How are plans progressing?

Bubbins: Our waterfront initiatives have emerged from over a decade of fighting against a disproportionate amount of polluting facilities and to advance a more holistic vision for our communities. In the aftermath of the successful effort by the then South Bronx Clean Air Coalition to shut down the BFI medical waste incinerator, we realized that a community led vision for the waterfront would serve to provide resources to local residents and visitors and help to pre-empt the polluting industries that are often located in lower income and people of color neighborhoods. Nevertheless, Governor Pataki saw fit to place not one but four power plants in Port Morris, and we have huge waster transfer stations across the shores from the East River to the Harlem River and no benefit whatsoever. In addition, a public bus depot was closed, the buses sent to park and storage in Harlem, the site was turned over to the non-artisan NY Post and hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies fueled that. Now, Fed Ex has closed down on the west side of Manhattan to make way for luxury housing and been given bonds and public subsidies to build a huge trucking facility which will bring more traffic and few if any jobs since the employees from Manhattan will be coming here.

We targetted five priorities, rebuilding a fishing pier destroyed by Con Ed, an eco art center, the bridge to Randall’s Island under the Amtrak viaduct, 2 street end access points, and a park on the Harlem River. All efforts are proceeding at various paces, with Sustainable South Bronx leading the way by spearheading the South Bronx Greenway which will achieve easier access to Randall’s Island. Our Harlem River park project, in partnership with Nyers for Parks and NY Restoration Project is moving forward thanks to support from our elected officials at every level. We have designs, have obtained seed funding through the NYS Environmental Protection Fund and are negotiating for rail access and an agreement to manage the site for community programming and recreation.

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Pictures via the Friends of Brook Park site

The Times Discovers Garblogging

  Literary trash author, Benjamin Miller is taking questions from New Yorkers this week on City Room, the New York Times “blog”.

Photo by Nancy Seisel via the NYT

Reblog: Gotham Gazette on NYC Trash Wars

  Check out this photo and in-depth article posted on Gotham Gazette, always a prime source for trash news.  New York City’s marine transfer stations—the loading docks once used to dump trash out of dump trucks and onto barges, back when we had a working landfill just down river in Staten Island—have been at the heart of municipal sanitation politics for years now.  Every borough has at least one, but the richer neighborhoods are fighting hard to keep theirs closed. 

The latest argument being tossed out there by the posher set is that using one such dock as a recycling plant would interrupt plans for a new park.  Clearly these guys don’t travel uptown all that much.   

Weekly Compactor

This week in trash news:

• In ever-dirtier Fort Portal, Uganda, the city can only collect 3 out of the 5 tons of garbage generated by residents each day;
• Eco-friendly trash trucks roll out in Mumbai;
• Mayor Bloomberg pimps the SWAMP around town;
• Giant yellow recyling trucks drive around Swindon, UK, collecting recycling; and
• Six arrested in Spain’s “Operation Brugal” trash scandal.

Sta’en I-lund

On Monday of this fabulous long weekend just past, I made the long overdue journey out to Staten Island to visit my aunt. I took the ferry and, for the first time in many moons, sat upstairs and outside to enjoy the views as I floated on.  It was such a beautiful day that I didn’t even mind the throngs of tourists and fleet week sailors crowding the decks.

On my way to Whitehall terminal to catch the boat, I bought an iced tea and drank it on the Subway platform. I took my last sip as my train rolled in and, smiling to myself, decided to hang on to the bottle so that I could deposit it in the brand new recycling bins at the ferry terminal, then blog and boast about it here.

I did, and here it is.  The bins, as promised, were easy to spot as I entered the ferry terminal, neatly color coded to separate paper from plastic and glass.  On the way home, however, it occurred to me that there are no bins ON the boat, or upstairs in the terminal—meaning that anything purchased on the ferry or while waiting for it to arrive is much less convenient to recycle.  You would have to know they’re there. 

Baby steps, I know.  Next time I take a ride, I’ll ask whether the concession stand recycles any of those beer bottles.   

The Sani Diaries

Looks like overdressed photo ops aren’t the only things Naomi Campbell is getting out of her brief tenure as a DSNY volunteer. W magazine will be publishing the “diary” Naomi kept during the trying experience. The New York Post has excerpts of the primary source, but everdaytrash officially endorses Gawker’s version. Why spend money on the newsstand version when the best bits are already sampled and satirized online?

The hard news headlines today are priceless.

Photo from Reuters.

Golden spike announcement #3 for Staten Island trash train

The city announced for the third time yesterday (after similar announcements in 1991 and 2004) that Staten Island’s solid waste will be hauled by train instead of truck, thus reducing traffic and air pollution on the island. Just as soon as they finish building it.

You gotta hand it to DSNY Commissioner Doherty, though. The man must be a bundle of energy, what with his socializing with recycling characters and city officials and enthusiastic media interviews and ribbon-cutting obligations, it’s a wonder he has time to draft long term plans for the city’s garbage. I wonder if he’s on the football team.

City recycling program creeps uptown…

Looks like the everydaytrash rant slamming Staten Islanders and the city’s pilot program recycling bins are making the rounds through the blogosphere. Check out this ferry blog, they’ve also been following the woes of pilot program. In another linking post, The Gothamist reports that Union Square got a visit from NYC trash celebs today and links to a new city web site dedicated to reducing trash.

Will Staten Islanders recycle?

  If, like me, you’ve been neglecting your extended family on Staten Island, you may not have noticed the recent installment of recycling bins at the ferry terminals.  It appears that the City is running a pilot program to see if putting receptacles in public spaces might encourage New Yorkers to recycle.

The DSNY news release cites:

“Many of us pick up a newspaper and a drink for the ferry ride across the harbor, so placing the recycling bins in the terminals is a great idea,” said Commissioner Weinshall.  “I encourage everyone to drop their recyclables in these bins and help keep our new terminals clean.”

During the pilot, which will officially begin on Monday, April 2nd, blue and green recycling bins will be placed in and around the Whitehall and Saint George Staten Island Ferry terminals, as well as Poe Park in the Bronx, Columbus Park in Brooklyn, Union Square Park in Manhattan, Hoffman Park in Queens, and Tappen Park and Clove Lakes Park on Staten Island. 

While this appears to be a fantastic idea, I can’t help but notice that three of the pilot sites are on Staten Island and that the Staten Island ferry terminal in Manhattan is a fourth.  This makes me nervous.  Having lived on Staten Island—and having taken the ferry during the unglamorous morning commuting hours and the even less glamorous weekend bar rush hours—I don’t think I’m being all that prejudiced when I say this recycling expansion is screwed.

Things I have seen in or around the Staten Island ferry terminals:

• A man sitting on a newspaper vending machine, swinging his legs and waving a hand gun.
• Pigeons riding escalators.
• Tired MTA workers on their way home.
• The sons and daughters of transit workers, firemen, immigrants and mafiosi pouring off of boats and stepping onto Manhattan Island.
• The sons and daughters of transit workers, firemen, immigrants and mafiosi crowding around the doors as the next boat pulls in, wishing for the day and commute to be over.
• Drunks bickering over polished wooden bench seats.
• Pacing hookers.
• Bright-eyed young tourist couples excited for a free boat ride and a view of the Statue of Liberty.

Things I have never seen in or around Whitehall and St. George terminals:

• Someone who looks like he’s about to recycle the bottle in that brown paper sack.

give more, waste less

  While I’m usually the first to trash DSNY initiatives, I have to admit their waste-reducing gift ideas are excellent.  I especially like the notion of giving entertainment, we don’t take advantage enough of the arts around us.

Speaking of art, I’m not sure it’s entirely necessary to spend tax dollars creating clip art to demonstrate waste-reduction principles.

Weekly Compactor (long overdue, I know!)

This week in trash news:

• A cost-benefit analysis of state requirements to recycle electronics finds that the four states with such programs are making money for all involved, suggesting that a national plan would make megabucks.
• DSNY offers New Yorkers unlimited free compost made from the leaves collected by the city last year.
• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act turns thirty.
• Bhutan gets $24.6 million from the Asia Development Bank to improve it’s solid waste and water treatment infrastructure.
• Filipino President calls for a greener country.
• An Indiana town council proposes “sniff tests” before stinky mega-farms can be built in their county.