Candied Apple
In one word, how would you describe New York City? Oh, I know! FILTHY!
In a city of over 8 million people, the good ol’ N.Y.C. is filled with a plethora of different personalities, cultures, foods, and more. But one thing that all of us “New Yaw-kas” have in common (apart from our location) is our contribution to the city’s unending supply of garbage.
According to the Department of Sanitation website, over 12,000 tons of residential and institutional refuse and recyclables are collected by them each day. And, another 13,000 tons are collected from businesses by private carting companies as well on a daily basis.
But what happens to the remaining waste? Does it disappear? If you live here, you know the answer to this question is no.
The rest of the waste is heavily sprinkled into our streets, sidewalks, hallways, stairwells, train tracks, and in every other space left on this big, filth-candied apple we live on.
We’re so used to this waste that it doesn’t ever bother a lot of us. We step over and around elevator urine, avoid sitting in dirty train seats and lift up our feet to avoid stray bottles as they dance around our train and bus floors. We turn up our noses, cover or faces with our hands, or exit the train car when a homeless person enters. And, let’s not delve into the fact that we will make every attempt to dodge even the slightest bit of contact with these unfortunate, city dwellers that we come into contact with each day.
But who cares…right? I do! So, next time you’re about to dodge a homeless person like Neo from the Matrix, think about how that might make them feel. Or next time you’re about to throw something on the floor, stop and think about the fact that there’s a garbage can on nearly every corner and several cans in every train station of this great city. Perhaps next time you can throw that Pepsi bottle or Starbucks cup into a receptacle, rather than leaving it in the Baruch classroom or train seat you just sat in for an hour and a half.
Or maybe not, but at least you tried! 
3 responses so far
A lot of us are desensitized to all the muck and all the garbage that surrounds us. I think it’s great that you pointed this out. New York City is really an old, dirty city, or as you call it, a filthy candied apple, that needs a whole lot of cleaning and a little more care from everyone.
It was really surprising for me when I went to Shanghai to see sanitation workers and cleaners coming out every night at the same time to actually mop the streets. I think it would be wonderful if people could do this here, but then again, the city probably doesn’t have the money to finance it.
With the risk of being ostracized, I must say I hope NYC doesn’t resemble Shanghai. When I was in Shanghai there were streets that were dirty (very often combined with an horrendous odor) to such an extent that you had to walk the long route just to get home. That’s not to say that the financial and tourist-prone districts weren’t meticulously clean.
I personally love to throw biodegradable trash around, however I must say that seeing people throw trash onto the streets is a huge pet peeve of mine. NYC does a horrible job or appropriating funds, just as does the Federal Government. This was mentioned by Edward Glaeser on The Daily Show in regards to funding American suburbia and the benefits of investing that money towards developing urban areas.
I must say that the trucks that the Sanitation Department uses to clean streets are highly outdated and inefficient, not to mention the added insult of having to wake up early in the morning to park your car. However, if NYC was to take it upon themselves to clean any and all kinds of trash we may have beautiful streets but may face the problem many French people do:
In France, little cars (the size of the Smart car) drive around the sidewalks picking up after dogs “biowaste.” They obviously don’t drive around 24/7, so you could just imagine the pleasant feeling of realizing that today was not one of those days.
So lets just put some extra trash cans and update our current technologies. Oh, and next time you see someone throw something on the floor, take it and chuck it right back at them… It’s the New York thing to do!
A few days ago I was looking through Yahoo’s stories and this relates to what you are talking about: America’s Most Toxic cities in 2011 – where does New York stand? It’s number 4, sad!
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-toxic-cities-2011.html