Recent Stories with tag garbage

Photo: David Baum

One thing Seattle is not short on is beady-eyed, middle-aged guys willing to buttonhole you about their latest fascination; they're just not usually as good at edu-tainment as Stokley Towles.

His shows are exactly the right length, take up different perspectives at the right time, and look under different kinds of rocks. For some of this, you have to also thank his director, Bret Fetzer.

Stokley's latest show, Trash Talk: the Social Life of Garbage (weekends through Sept. 26) "digs into the human side of garbage." Though it features actual trash items, its concern is with us, the trash-makers, trash-haulers, trash-deniers. Presented in three "acts," lasting just about an hour altogether, the monologue opens with Towles recounting conversations with garbage men and women, as they explain how they deal with the disgusting--and delightful--parts of their job. 

It's probably the delightful that's the most surprising--we're all used to creating a separation from trash, whether it's twist-tie bags, or curbside cans, or faraway landfills. But for people who do the job, it becomes as full of rich detail as any other: they geek out over "dumpsters" of a different manufacture or how waste streams are sorted. In a particularly effective moment, Towles talked about a garbage "tea" that's created in a landfill, using a teapot prop, then poured himself a cup of tea from the pot and drank it. The audience grimaced audibly. Just attaching the concept of garbage to the teapot was enough to contaminate its contents.... (more)

"green city, blue cans" courtesy of Flickr pool member zenobia_joy

Teamsters Local #174 represents, among other truck-driving groups, the sanitation collection workers who drive for Waste Management and Allied Waste (aka Rabanco). The Teamsters have been negotiating with both companies since February--reporting more progress with Allied Waste--but economics has proven to be a sticking point.

On Sunday, in a "near unanimous vote," Local #174 voted to authorize a strike. A second vote is needed to begin the strike, if the current contract expires on Wednesday without a new agreement. In a show of brotherhood, Local #117, whose members also provide sanitation services, voted to authorize a strike as well. ("Generally speaking," reports the Seattle Times, "Local 174 drivers pick up garbage, while Local 117 drivers haul yard waste and recycling.")

Waste Management provides garbage pick-up for about half the homes in Seattle. Customers served by CleanScapes should not see interruption of service, because CleanScapes' contract with Local #174 does not expire until March 2011, said spokesman John Taylor.

That said the company has also released a statement that reads, "CleanScapes’ operations may be affected due to picket lines at transfer stations and other related facilities. Our management team has contingency plans and is monitoring the situation. We will do everything we can to minimize any impact or disruption to our customers."

In an earlier newsletter, Local #174 laid out their requirements:

No surprise, along with numerous other items, our members want to have the cost increases in their medical plans covered, they want and deserve wage increases commensurate with their skills, and they want pensions that will provide a decent standard of living when they retire.... (more)

I like to keep the Christmas tree up until I have an epiphany sometime around January 6 ("Hey, this thing is brown and dead and shedding needles everywhere!"). But I realize that in our modern world things happen on a faster schedule. For many people, Christmas is over December 26, and that tree has got to go.

Happily for the environment, in Seattle and all throughout King County you can "tree-cycle," if you haven't flocked it and are not too lazy to remove tinsel and other ornamentation. King County guidelines look less strict than Seattle (they won't accept trees over eight feet). In Seattle, we're more precise about our Christmas tree recycling:

The tree must be less than 4 inches in diameter, and trimmed to 6 feet tall and 4 feet across. Clean trees can also be taken to the Transfer Station for free. If tree is flocked, it must be disposed of as garbage: Cut into pieces in your garbage can, or take to the Transfer Station.

Artificial trees, of course, are not included in the recycling program: "Artificial trees will last for six years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill."

This Saturday at the Central Library downtown at 11 a.m., team-members from MIT's SENSEable City Lab will be in town to discuss their TrashTrack program. Over the summer, MIT researchers dropped tiny tracking devices into the garbage in NYC and Seattle to track their progress through the waste-management system and see where they wound up. Well, this week is presentation time, as the NY Times noted in an article this morning. The results can be fascinating, some of which are available on the program's blog. But the big news will all be on display starting this weekend. There's a presentation from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Microsoft Auditorium, followed by a reception from 12:30-1:30 on the fifth floor.