Do you ever wonder where your garbage actually goes?
As a New Yorker, I've always kind of assumed
that it was taken away by some garbage fairy
after I put it outside my apartment.
Well, it turns out that's not the case.
In fact, I don't know what happens
to it, so I'm here at the 91st Street transfer station
to find out.
My guide is Jessica Tisch, New York's 41st Commissioner
of Sanitation, a lifelong New Yorker with only
three Harvard degrees.
Tisch formerly held high-ranking positions
in both the city administration and the police department,
and all that has led her to this.
Wow, that is, that's a lot of trash.
Yeah, no, this isn't a lot of trash for us.
OK
It's probably less than 500,000 pounds of it.
This is what you wanted to do.
Yeah, a girl can dream.
And there it is.
I was desperate to run sanitation.
Why did you want this?
Because sanitation is the essential service.
Every day, New Yorkers leave 24 million
pounds of trash and recycling.
24 million pounds?
We don't do our job for one day--
Yeah.
--everyone in New York City notices.
If we don't do our jobs for two or three days,
that's a public health crisis.
Commissioner Tisch has already
been a dynamo of innovation, bringing
new ideas and a breath of fresh air
to Gotham's piles of garbage.
We announced this week that we're changing the set
out times for trash to 8 PM.
This week, the Department of Sanitation
launched its first all-borough composting program.
Biggest swing that you can take at cleaning up
our streets is to shut down the all-night,
all-you-can-eat rat buffet.
Tell me about, because you have been associated
with the word, rat and rats, because you said
something that went viral.
The rats don't run this city, we do.
The rats don't run the city, rats don't run this city,
we do.
We do.
I'm like, Mom, I think I went viral.
Jessie Tisch took it to the rats.
The idea is one third of the material in these black bags
is food.
As we're trying to take the food
and compost it and create soil.
Now, the rats won't like that.
The rats will hate that.
But the rats don't run the city.
We do.
Yeah.
All right, look out, the truck's coming.
- I think, you know what? - Let's go!
This would be really--
No, no, no, we have to go, let's go.
- This is mine! - Let's go.
- OK. - OK.
Watch out, there's trash here.
I'm stepping in cabbage.
There it is!
Woo!
Isn't it amazing?
Holy Moly!
From here, the trash is loaded into containers
and put on barges, then makes a stop at Staten Island.
Hey, yo, what are you, gagoots?
But not even trash wants to stay there,
so then it shuffles off to Buffalo
by rail, where it's burned to generate electricity.
[clapping]
What's that?
That's Scrappy, our composting mascot.
Can you come over here?
I got a bone to pick with you.
You clearly modeled Scrappy after me.
The glasses, the teeth, the kind of the Jew fro.
What about the eyebrows?
- Those are my eyebrows! - Exactly.
You should be flattered.
It's our composting mascot.
I'm honored, thank you.
Thank you, Scrappy.
OK, go away.
So far, I've learned that I'm a composting bin,
the trash travels more than I do,
and that I don't have to bring my own garbage
bag to the transfer station.
That's thanks to New York's unsung heroes, the trash
collectors, like Nick.
Next stop.
Who let me ride along his night shift
through Manhattan's Westville.
All right, all right, let's get ready to roll.
The quicker we get it done, the quicker
the rats don't have food.
You know something?
The rats don't run this city.
That's true, yes, correct, they don't.
We run the city.
What about this thing about just the trash not being out?
That is a very smart idea, because you know what?
I guess sanitation has been doing it for 70, 80 years,
putting it out at 4:00 PM.
It sits out for 16 hours.
Yeah.
It doesn't make sense to put it out at 8:00 PM.
Less time on the street, less rats.
It was going to be a long night.
[honking]
I wondered if I was ever going to make it as a garbage man.
[honking]
Hey, I'm working here!
Hey, we're picking up garbage here.
[honking]
We're picking up garbage here, OK?
We're going to move.
But we'll pick it up garbage here.
[honking]
[bleep]
Turns out, I was a natural.
- You're doing it wrong. - OK.
You're dragging it, it's too heavy.
Like that?
Your back's going to go out.
Jesus Christ.
Hey, this is easy.
You ever spend three hours trying to write a joke
and not be able to?
Oh, OK, no.
This is nothing.
All right, you ready?
Got another 10 blocks to go.
OK, you know, I think you guys are fine without me.
And so, can you give me a lift home?
I'm on the Upper West Side. - All right.
You got to go in the back though.
Even though Nick refused to give me a ride home,
I knew it was because he had something much more important
to do, keep our streets clean.
After all, this is New York City.
We all need to work together with mutual respect to do--
[honking]
[bleep]
[applause]
[cheering]