This Is How New York City Takes Out Its Trash

00:00:02 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios. 00:00:04 Speaker 2: Podcasts. Radio. News. 00:00:18 Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Thoughts Podcast. 00:00:21 Speaker 4: I'm Tracy Alloway. 00:00:22 Speaker 1: And I'm Joe Weisenthal. 00:00:23 Speaker 4: Joe, I was talking trash with a guy at a party recently. 00:00:27 Speaker 2: Go on. 00:00:28 Speaker 4: No, I met this guy at a party. 00:00:29 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:00:30 Speaker 4: And you know some people... Are so into their work. 00:00:33 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:00:34 Speaker 3: An area of expertise that they just start talking to you about it. And this guy happened to be an expert in trash. 00:00:41 Speaker 1: That's really cool. I don't know much about trash. 00:00:43 Speaker 5: I'm impressed at like what a complex logistical operation it must be to collect trash in a city like New York City. 00:00:51 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:00:51 Speaker 5: I also understand that, you know, it's sort of one of those classic things where, isn't there a cliche like, There's no Democrat or Republican way to pick up trash. Some famous politician once said that, and they were talking about city management and what makes city management different than other sort of political things. It's like the trash isn't picked up, it's not picked up, and it's not an ideological thing. 00:01:13 Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting you say that because the person I was talking to at this party who we're about to have on the show as a guest described Trash Collection in New York City as one of the last services untouched by neoliberalism. And that's when I knew we had to have him on Oddlots. And then he introduced his wife as his garbage queen. And then I was doubly sure that we needed to have. 00:01:35 Speaker 4: Him on Oddlots. But Trash Collection is such a fascinating thing. I wasn't planning. 00:01:40 Speaker 3: on doing an episode on it, but I've been converted, I guess, after this conversation, because you think about in a city like New York, just how much trash has to be dealt with on a daily basis. And obviously in New York specifically, it's not like we're putting it, you know, in the city. 00:01:57 Speaker 4: We have to find other places to store our trash. 00:02:01 Speaker 3: And at the same time, New York City is not well known for being the cleanest place in the world. In fact, we famously stick our garbage out in bags on the curb. 00:02:11 Speaker 4: And wait for collection. 00:02:12 Speaker 3: And we are in a giant process of trying to change that. So there's a lot to discuss here. 00:02:16 Speaker 1: There's a lot to discuss. 00:02:17 Speaker 5: By the way, that quote, according to Google Gemini, there's no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the garbage. Former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia …