Picking Up

December 24, 2012
Inspired by a graduate school project and a seminar she taught on “Garbage in Gotham,” Nagle, NYU professor and the current and first ever anthropologist-in-residence at New York City’s Department of Sanitation, examines why the garbage men and women are the most important people on the payroll. The city’s 8.2 million residents are well-served by a relatively small army: a mere 9,216 workers are responsible for carting off the 12,000 tons of garbage and recyclables produced each day, in addition to sweeping 6,000 miles of streets multiple times a week—the author contends that the city is cleaner than it’s ever been. Nagle worked as a garbage woman to better understand her subject, and that experience, combined with years of research, results in an intimate look at the mostly male work force as they risk injury and endure insult while doing the city’s dirty work. She also provides a fascinating capsule history of the department and the city’s 400-year relationship with waste. Citing the mind-bogglingly expansive Fresh Kills landfill as evidence of humanity’s remarkable ability to consume “geological” quantities of stuff, Nagle asks, “Who keeps us safe from ourselves?” Her investigation makes the answer abundantly clear. Agent: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary Agency.

January 15, 2013
A deserving profile of the hardworking folks who work a particularly dirty job. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, refuse collection is the seventh most hazardous occupation. Nagle (Anthropology and Urban Studies/New York Univ.), the New York Department of Sanitation's first-ever anthropologist-in-residence, confirms this with insightful information on both the job itself and the men and women who scour New York City's streets. The physically strenuous work of the garbage collector encompasses the three-part official mandate of collection, disposal and snow removal. Though these distinct laborers receive "scant notice and even less praise" for collecting citywide refuse, Nagle writes, most are dedicated to their unique livelihood and faithfully adhere to the many restrictions of the trade, including the non-acceptance of tips, the rigorous written and physical exams, and the "instant termination" drug policy. Nagle points out that it's our "lushly consumptive economy and culture" keeping these reliable workers in business, since, without them, "the city becomes unlivable, fast." Her head-to-toe immersion in the sanitation process included manning a garbage-collection route and often exasperatedly reporting that the job is less a matter of on-the-job perils and more about the early-morning start times and the sheer physical resiliency required for successful employment. Nagle takes the science of scavenging seriously, as evidenced by her postgraduate seminar "Garbage in Gotham," which included a tour of the colossally expansive Staten Island Fresh Kills landfill. Her multifaceted analysis alludes to the impermanent nature of the things we own, including our own bodies, and how the sanitation worker performs just one key component of that intricate transmogrification. Sure to garner newfound respect for an essential yet greatly underappreciated workforce.

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May 1, 2013

Nagle (anthropology & urban studies, New York Univ.) has devoted much of her professional life to the study of garbage! Here she explores the New York City workers who have the Sisyphean task of collecting more than 11,000 tons of household trash daily. Through an absorbing first-person journey as a "san man" herself, she weaves a narrative of personal encounters with fellow workers who have shared both hilarious and harrowing on-the-job accounts. She points out the enormous challenges confronting the garbage collectors, known as "sanitation engineers," as they face hazards that can cause injury or even death. (She notes that New York's sanitation workers are well compensated.) One of the more edifying tales is how the cleanup of the New Year's Eve ball-drop in Times Square is so efficiently accomplished. She combines such stories with a broader historic sweep of the efforts to keep New York's streets clean, from Colonial times to the present. As one of Nagle's colleagues reminds us, we may never need a police officer or firefighter, but "we will need a sanitation worker every day." VERDICT An important study documenting the labors of these municipal workers. Highly recommended for urban anthropologists, waste-management experts, and readers with an interest in New York City. --Richard Drezen, Jersey City, NJ

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