Robin Nagle Interview

“Every single thing you see is future trash, everything,” Robin Nagle. Robin Nagle is an anthropologist who worked with the New York City’s Department of Sanitation, trying to understand the cycle of human waste products. She hopes to open a museum of sanitation in New York.

            I really never thought much about what happens to your garbage, after you throw it out. I always figured it was just piled up in a landfill in some field that would eventually be covered up. Robin Nagle brings the problem about people not thinking about the importance of sanitation and the garbage process right out into the open. She explains how people make garbage invisible in their minds. How no one really thinks much about what happens after you take out the trash.

            After reading this interview, my personal perspective on garbage has changed. I thought about the history of human’s sanitation. I think trash has come a long way from being tossed out into the streets. This interview made me realize how helpful recycling can be if everyone choose to do it.

            I think that if people where educated more on the waste that was thrown away, not just an average house hold, but their own house hold that was annually thrown away. Then maybe that would be a big difference in the deductions of waste. Another idea would be to put incentives for groceries or something. Because people who can barely afford food would think twice about throwing recyclables away if it meant 30% off of their grocery bill.