“Did you see that?” [UPBEAT MUSIC] I, like a lot of New
Yorkers, compost. I put my orange peels and
my lemon peels and my little Compost pail put it in my
compost bin, and I wondered — “Thank you.” — what happens to it? Who is the person
picking up my compost And where is my compost going? What does it become? “Mmm.” Is it all worth it? “I can do it in one peel. We’re going to find out the
answers to all of that today. We are going to be meeting
Paul, a sanitation truck Driver. Paul picks up mostly
commercial compost. So that’s compost from grocery
stores like this and from Restaurants. Do you know what I’m actually
really curious about? What are people throwing away? What have we got here? Whew. I’ve just got a
whiff of something. We’re going to see who New
Yorkers really are tonight. Hey, Paul. Just a normal day
on the job, huh?” “Hi, Priya. Nice to meet you.” “So nice to meet you.” “I brought you a little gift.” “Oh, my God. So this is just to
make sure that –” “You’re visible.”
“I love it. So this is just the beginning
of your shift, right?” “Yeah, I start
about an hour ago.” “I’m not going to lie. This is usually
when I go to bed.” “Oh!” [LAUGHS] “Can you show me where
the compost bins are? Because I got peels for you. I got compost. This is where the
magic happens. Ooh, it smells better
than I thought it would. Can I just stick
this right in here?” “Yep.” “All right. So they say
compost smells bad, This smells like a
juice bar in here.” “It’s nice and cool. Wait until it’s 90 degrees.” “Can I roll this one?” [GRUNTS] “Oh, my God. You do it so easily.” “You’re strong.” “You’re generous, Paul.” “There we go. So you stick it
here, and here we go. So here go the gizmo now.” “Whoa. The first time you saw that,
were you not like, Holy, Garbage?” “Oh, well, I’ve been
doing it so long, so –” “You’re not fazed by it?” “No.”
“You make it look
so easy, Paul.” “That’s good right there. Thank you.” “O.K. Which number
stop was this?” “9, I think.” “And how many more
stops do we have to go?” “I think maybe about 40 more.” “O.K., 9 down 40 to go.” “You’re secure?” “Yep. I feel good. This is a nice ride
you’ve got here, Paul.” “Oh, thank you. This is really comfortable. I feel like we’re like King
and Queen of the city right Now.” [LAUGHS] “We’re so high up,
we get to see.” “I know. It’s kind of awesome. O.K., let’s do it. So where are we now and
where are we going?” “We’re in Ridgewood, which you
could say the border of Queens And Brooklyn. We’re going to be in Brooklyn
for the rest of the night.” “So where in Brooklyn
are we going?” “We’re start in Bushwick,
we go through Bed–Stuy, Flatbush, come back around to
the Navy yard and back To Williamsburg.” “How many tons of compost are
you collecting in a night?” “Maybe 12 tons tonight.” “12 tons a night, every day. I always wonder what
happens to my compost. Is it just ending up in a
landfill like everything else,
Like my trash? Or is it going towards
helping the city in some way?” “I think that they use
it to make fertilizer.” “So what happens after that?” “Well, I don’t know further.” “How do you even get
into a job like this?” [SIGHS] [LAUGHS] “I’m rolling on mine. Can you give us one big clap?” [CLAP] “That’s a good clap.” “I’m wondering if you can
talk a little bit about Your upbringing in Jamaica.” “O.K. Born in
1969, February 24. Birth in Lacovia, which is in
the parish of St Elizabeth. Small neighborhood, it’s
the breadbasket of Jamaica. Back in the ‘80s what is
called the common entrance Examination and that award
your position in the more Prestigious high school.” “How’d you do?” “About 30 of us who took
the exam, six of us passed. I was the only boy. But only did three
years, financial reasons. I started doing different
odd jobs — work on farm, Sugar cane plantation,
work on trucks. Eventually work my way where
I find myself in tourism. And then at 21, I got my
commercial license and I Started driving bigger
vehicles until I eventually Was driving buses.” “One thing I’m curious about,
what is compostable for you?” “Leftover food, spoiled
food, expired food.” “Meat and bones sometimes?” “Yes.
Meat breaks down,
it also liquefies.” “Where are we stopping at?” “Right here.” “O.K. Mr. Kiwi. We’re ready to go.” [GRUNTS] “There we go. If I stop 40, I’ll totally
have the hang of it. Oh, my God. What’s in this one? Bet this one’s got like,
whole melons or something.” “Just like ginger, carrot — Smell.” “It smells nice.” “Yeah, it smells like ginger.” “Wow. That one looks
like a heavy one.” “Well, no, it wasn’t
all that heavy. This is just corn.” “And is it O.K. that
there’s cardboard in this?” “Well, yeah. These are little pieces. These will still break down.” “What about a plastic bag?” “Well, if you see big
pieces, then we take it out. But smaller one like
this, are fine.” “These are fine.” “The machine will
separate all of this.” “I mean, this is crazy. There’s a whole potato. Whole tomato. Like, why are people
throwing this stuff out? Ooh! This is a sight to behold.
All right. Oh, there’s one more. Have you ever forgotten to put
this up and driven away with It down?” “Yes.” “And you know
when you remember, When you hear behind you,
boom, boom, boom, boom. You hear that and
I’m like, hmm, what?” “How often is it that you go
by a place and they don’t have Trash?” “The pick up stores,
they go every day. But some of the smaller
ones, every other day.” “Do they have any? Oh, yep. I see one.” “Priya, the safest way is to
come out backwards and you Want to be as straight as
possible because if you’re Sideways, you can flip. So you want — no, you see? You want that straight. So if it’s very heavy,
it’s going to flip. And two things — couple
things can happen — You can hurt yourself or you
drop the bin and damaged other Property.” “Lesson learned.” “Ready?” “Oh, God.” “O.K., so usually when
it’s one, try to balance, Put it in here.” “O.K., the center. O.K. It’s like parking a car. What have we got here? Oh, my God, more whole foods. It’s a whole banana, tomato.
I was not expecting to see
so many whole vegetables.” “Well, there’s still more
you’re going to see.” “There she blows. How’d I do? Good?” “Yes, perfect.” “These tips are
all so helpful. Keep telling me what’s what.” “All right.” “What do we got in here?” “This is coffee.” “Wow.” “It’s a coffee shop. All right, here we go.” “O.K. I’m getting
a little better. What kind of pepper is this?” “Maybe scotch bonnet?” “Ooh, spicy. It really is a beautiful night
to be picking up compost.” [BOTH GRUNT] “How many pounds do
you think that was?” “I think each of them
was like 300 pounds.” “350?” “Yeah.” “Sparling hops.” “Is there a brewery nearby?” “Right behind you.” “Hey, lady! All right. Take care.” “Who was that?” “I know her from Jamaica.” “Paul knows everyone.” [LAUGHS]
“Well, what do you got here? Whole strawberries left to
die or be turned into whatever It gets turned into. We’ll find out. On to the next. We are on stop 11, 12? Time is illusory
at this point. We have been coming on mostly
food shops like bodegas, Fruit stand. What have we got? These are whole
cucumbers, carrots. Lots of juice ingredients,
lots of lime peels, Lots of bananas. I’m annoyed seeing
whole vegetables, But at least they’re
getting composted. All right. Ooh. Wow. Those are hefty ones. What time is it? 11:05, wow. Usually by this time,
I’m fast asleep.” “So time to call wifey.” “You just check in and
see how she’s doing?” “Yeah, yeah.” “That’s really nice.” “I started driving for
these private individuals, Which is JUTA, Jamaican Union
of Travelers Association. So happened went to the hotel. I was there to pick up these
guests to take them on a tour. So I saw this lady. There was two buses. She was not going on my bus,
so I’m using the CB radio from My bus, communicate with the
tour guide in the other bus,
Passing message to her.” “So I’m assuming this is
the woman who would become Your wife?” “Yes. She is. 27 years together.” “Where are we now? What neighborhood?” “I think we’re going
into Flatbush.” “Flatbush. O.K. Fresh coconut. Wow. So many coconuts. Oh, man. I feel like I’m an
embarrassment to my strength Training. So many coconuts. Someone put a whole
sweet green salad. My God. I got these last one. I got it. Oh, my God. There is a whole watermelon. Why? Seeing all the coconuts. That’s very satisfying.” “You want to do
two this time?” “O.K. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Good?” “Good.” “Does this job ever
feel invisible?”
“So will past by, thank you. Do a great job. Others be like, cover their
nose and walk and just take it In stride.” “Nice. I feel like you got to
take a bow or something.” [LAUGHS] “This is for me?” “That’s for you. Wow.” “Late night snack.” “This is exciting. When we go on vacation,
this is my favorite thing.” “You’re a good basketball
player, right?” “No, I’m a bad
basketball player.” “All right, try
hitting the target, Because if you go over may
hit and come in traffic.” [LAUGHS] “This is actually
so humiliating. I have such bad
hand-eye coordination. O.K. All right.” “Ah! Yay!” “All right. That took all the
athleticism I had in me.” “Hey how are you doing?” “Good. Can you see — look, babe.” “Babe, you got a
lot of company.” “Yeah, exactly right. I’m at your
favorite stop, baby. Coconut stop. Look yeah, these
boxes had coconuts.” “That’s your favorite spot.”
“Hi. Hey.” “Hi.” “I’m riding along with your
wonderful husband today.” “Oh, can you understand him?” [LAUGHS] “Yeah, of course I can.” “Yes, baby. She lives in Brooklyn. So she — she heard Jamaica
talking all the time.” “Fun. All right, we y’all take care. Be safe.” “We will. We will. Paul’s really making sure
this is extremely safe, And I really appreciate it.” “All right. God bless.” “God bless. See you.” “All right, babe. Love you. Good night.” “Bye-bye. Love you.” “So you all came to
the US together?” “Yes. We came here in a
small apartment. And after three years of
work, work, work, save money, We buy our own house. It’s been a journey
getting here. We’re happy. Got two wonderful children.
We have a granddaughter. And we’re doing fine. Oh, my God. This is like a bottle of
wine’s worth of grapes. Was it shocking coming to this
country and seeing how much Waste is generated here?” “No doubt. It brings back memories
to when I was growing up, When we didn’t have
much, if anything. There was 10 of us who grew
up in a very small house. No electricity,
no running water.” “Look at this. You can make pounds and pounds
of saag paneer with this.” “My mother used to have to
send us to different neighbors To ask to borrow some
sugar, rice, flour, Something to be able to
complete a meal for us to eat. It’s meat” “Oh, its meat. Ooh. Whew. Oh, my God. It just smells like one
million farts in there. We’re about, what,
halfway through?” “Yes, we have about
20 stops left.” “How do you think
Priya’s doing?” “Oh, yeah, Priya’s doing — She’s doing fine. I mean, I’m surprised
she’s very strong. I mean, were you
training for this?” “I have been lifting,
things for asking, But nothing as heavy as this.” “O.K. All right.” “Is there a reason you,
like, working in trash Specifically?”
“It don’t talk back to you.” “The philosophy is 98 percent
of everything is trash. When you’re conceived,
there’s trash created; When you’re born, trash is
created; when you’re growing, You create trash; when you
pass away, you create trash.” [LAUGHS] “Trash is an inescapable
part of our lives.” “Exactly. Yes. When I come to work
in the evening, I come with a
clear, steady head. I’m considered a professional
operating 20-ton truck. So there is great
responsibility and no Question, I don’t
take it for granted. I do operate with that
level of responsibility.” “Oh, here it is. Mr. CoCo. Coffee time.” “Hey, buddy! Am I on time?” “Which muffin are
you going to take? One of these.” “Corn muffin.” “Ooh, corn muffin. Nice.” “So what are you
getting, Priya?” “Oh, maybe some
seaweed snacks? Are those going to be a
nightmare audio-wise if I get Seaweed snacks?” [LOUD CRUNCH] “Mmmm.” “Do a lot of trash truck
drivers come by here?” “Yes.” “Not a lot of film
crews, though?”
“No.” “Do I have seaweed
on my face?” “No.” “Wow. I cannot believe I
managed to have — Do I have muffin in my beard?” “No.” “You good?” “Yeah, I’m good.” “All right.” “Let’s do it. What I wouldn’t do for
a chicken sandwich.” “You good?” “It’s not very heavy. Not a lot of vegetables
from Chick-fil-A. Yep. As predicted, the primary
vegetables of Chick-fil-A — Lettuce and tomato. It is just past
4:00 in the morning. Bok Choy. Lots of it. I’m tired. Paul is chipper as ever. We’ve two more stops and
then we head to the dump. So the end is nigh. This is the first time we’re
seeing night owls who are Still partying. We must be in Williamsburg. We just finished. The last trash bag was
the stinkiest one yet. It had eggs. And now we’re
going to the dump. We’re done. We did it. We did it.
We have arrived at the dump. I can’t believe we made it. It’s been seven, eight really
long, but really fun hours. Paul is going to put
all of that compost, Dump it back here. It’ll go wherever it goes. Which we’ll find
out about tomorrow. It’s really stinky. It’s the grand finale — What we’ve all
been waiting for. Oh, my God. The juices! I hope that when you guys edit
this is set over some really Dramatic classical music.” [DRAMATIC CLASSICAL MUSIC] “This is intense.” [COUGHING] “I see it. It’s coming out. It’s crazy to be able to
visualize the scale of it. We throw away all of
this every single day. It’s honestly depressing, but
at least this is going towards Something better
than a landfill. Just a whole ass watermelon. Paul, how many tons was that?” “Probably about 13 14.” “Between 13 and 14
tons of compost. This is us, New York. It is nearly 6 o’clock
in the morning, All that compost is headed
to Trenton, New Jersey, Where it will be processed,
and we’ll find out what Happens to it. So we just got word that
the truck left the facility 30 minutes ago.
We are going to intercept it
and see what happens to those 13 to 14 tons of compost.” “We’re walking onto
the truck scale, That’s where the truck’s
going to come in and we record Their weight so we can
know how much it’ll be. So we have 30 tons of compost
coming in at one time.” “All right. Well, here it comes. Can you imagine
falling in to this? Has anyone ever
fallen into the pit?” “I’ve not heard any
reports of that. It’d be hard to
get out, for sure.” “Oh, yeah.” “Just like that.” [LAUGHS] “Now that the product
is in our pit, It’s going to be
fed into the plant. If you look over
there, that large tank, That’s one of our million
gallon digesters that’s filled With about 75 percent
of that slurry. And then when the
gas is extracted, It’s sent over to
this large gas vessel. The slurry then we recycle,
we turn it into the compost. What comes out is a material
that’s kind of like mulch.” “Whoa.” “It’s just like soil.” “It’s really warm. Ooh. Paul doesn’t see this. Paul actually wasn’t entirely
sure what happened to his Compost.” “See this? That’s coconut.” “That’s coconut!
Probably from last night. We were there. Wow. This is awesome. We went to Trenton Biogas
and we followed your compost And we found out it creates
enough biogas to power A single household
for 100 days.” “Oh, wow.” “That’s just one
night of trash.” “That’s motivating.” “What you do is changing
how we consume energy. It’s literally changing
how we power our homes.” “Hopefully, we’ll see a whole
lot more of this happening. So less stuff can go to
landfill and compose more — Get more on the greener
side of generating energy.” “Do you think your
job is essential?” “I would say yes, because
if you think about it, If people like us don’t
pick up the trash, What would these streets
look like or smell like? Hopefully, the mass will
consider us as part of that Essential fabric of what makes
New York City New York City.” [HONK] “Bye bye!”
Have you ever wondered why most of the Vinaigrettes in the grocery store are made with 10, 20, sometimes even almost 30 ingredients? I remember growing up in Provence watching my mother whipping vinaigrettes before every single dinner. She would mix in a giant bowl, delicious extra virgin olive oil, a robust aged vinegar (the flavor would depend on the main dish), sea salt and pepper and voila! I decided to do the same thing for my family and friends more than 20 years ago here in this beautiful country. And Provence Kitchen® was born. Stay tune for more articles and wonderful family recipes..
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