NPR’s All Things Considered had a great interview today with Calvin Jones, French Quarter Supervisor for SDT Waste and Debris, on cleaning up the leavings from last night’s (this morning’s?) raucous Super Bowl victory celebrations in the heart of New Orleans.
In Mr. Jones’ estimation, the mess approximated a “mini-Mardi Gras” (he’ll be able to make a proper comparison in exactly one week). But he was rooting for the Saints all the way: “You had to hope for them to win. But I said, ‘If they win, we’re gonna have record trash.’”
We’ve mentioned it before, but don’t forget to stay tuned to CBS after the Super Bowl for the premiere of “Undercover Boss” featuring Waste Management COO Larry O’Donnell donning a reflective vest and getting his hands dirty for the sake of reality television.
And be sure to check out the February issue of Waste Age, in which we interview O’Donnell about his experience.
Valuable art mistaken for trash is a common trope on Antiques Roadshow. But rarely is that value so immediately apparent. Stuart, Fla., resident Warren Bendix was dumpster diving at his apartment complex when he discovered a fetching framed photo of the Apollo 8 rocket launch. Since the frame was not as fetching as the photo, Bendix removed it, and discovered $3,100 in concealed cash.
Being a good Samaritan, Bendix turned the money over to the police, who will give it back to him if they cannot find its rightful owner. Given the subject of the photo, one suspects NASA will file a claim, $3,100 being just enough gas money to get the space shuttle to the local 7-Eleven.
While some couples planning their wedding seem determined to put themselves in debt, a couple in Spokane, Wash. is attempting to pay for their ceremony by recycling aluminum cans. Andrea Parrish and Peter Geyer have set a goal of collecting 400,000 cans, or 5 tons of aluminum, worth roughly $3,800. At one point, the couple had 18,000 cans filling their living room.
Parrish and Geyer set up a Web site, weddingcans.com, to solicit cans and to track their progress. As of the time of this writing, the site shows the couple at 82 percent of their goal (helped, no doubt, by a flurry of press coverage last month), making it highly likely they will reach 400,000 in time for their July wedding date. At the end of January, they announced that they would continue to collect cans beyond their initial goal, donating the resulting proceeds to charity.
They’ll probably also want to set a few aside for the best man to tie to their car’s bumper.
According to cbs4Denver.com, a chapter of the National Socialist Movement calling itself the American Nazi Party requested a 1-mile stretch of highway in a suburb north of Denver as part of Colorado’s Adopt-A-Highway program. The Colorado Department of Transportation said it felt it had no choice but to grant the request out of fear it would face a free-speech lawsuit if it didn’t. A 2001 Supreme Court decision allowed the Ku Klux Klan to adopt a highway in Missouri.
Congratulations to the Fort Bliss (Texas) Recycling Program, which recently received a first place award for Waste Reduction (Government Category) from Keep America Beautiful. Fort Bliss, the first U.S. Army installation to offer single-stream recycling, was profiled in the June issue of Waste Age. You can read the article here.
Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum has found a great way to encourage e-waste recycling. According to TreeHugger, from Jan. 15-24, the museum is offering free tickets for the IMAX documentary “Wild Ocean” to people who turn in an old cell phone for recycling. Given the film’s eco-friendly message, the offer is probably preaching to the choir, but it’s a good idea nonetheless.
What are some similar, simple ways we can get people to recycle key items they might otherwise toss in the trash?
No one who witnessed Archie Lee Wells’ casket rolling slowly toward the graveyard on the forklift of a garbage truck would question the man’s devotion to his profession. A garbage truck driver for 20 years, Wells succumbed to a malignant brain tumor in December at age 43. Before the end, he made it clear that he should be conveyed to his final rest by the Mack truck he drove for Western Waste Services (WWS) in Twin Falls, Idaho.
“That was his final wish,” Wells’ 21-year-old daughter, Melvina Patterson told the Magic Valley Times-News. “My dad told me from the time I was a little girl that he was not a rich man. He didn’t want to be carried in a hearse.
“‘I’m a garbage man and I want to be carried on the forklift of my garbage truck,’” she said he had told her. A procession of WWS vehicles proudly carried out that last request.
Wells leaves behind seven children, 12 grandchildren and a host of garbage men striving to live up to his legacy.
Depending on how enthusiastically you rang in the New Year, you likely spent the first morning of 2010 enjoying the annual spectacle that is the Tournament of Roses Parade. But it’s after the 750,000 spectators clear out and the television cameras switch off that the real show begins: the cleanup.
“I think it’s become a tradition [for spectators] to leave their trash behind. It’s kind of like movie-theater syndrome,” Ann Erdman, spokeswoman for the city of Pasadena, Calif., told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
The 70-person Pasadena Department of Public Works is tasked with collecting the 65 to 75 tons of trash left along the 5.5-mile parade route. According to the Tribune, crews start at either end of the route, removing large items that might impede foot or car traffic. From 10:30 p.m. New Year’s Day to 7:30 a.m., Jan. 2, the remaining debris is swept into the street and scooped up for collection before street sweepers make a final pass. Given the tremendous volume of trash that must be cleared in a short amount of time, none of the material is recycled.
Still, it’s better than cleaning up after the elephants.
Following this year’s Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 7, CBS will premiere a new program called “Undercover Boss.” According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the new reality show follows corporate executives who anonymously take entry-level positions with their own companies, ostensibly to see how the other half lives. Hilarity and carefully edited personal growth no doubt ensue.
What makes “Undercover Boss” pertinent to this blog, however, is that the post-Super Bowl premiere features Waste Management president and COO Larry O’Donnell mixing with the hoi polloi. The show will follow Anderson “as he cleans porta-potties and works at a recycling plant,” says THR.
NPR’s All Things Considered had a great interview today with Calvin Jones, French Quarter Supervisor for SDT Waste and Debris, on cleaning up the leavings from last night’s (this morning’s?) raucous Super Bowl victory celebrations in the heart of New Orleans.
