[CPEO-BIF] New Orleans waste

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The Cleanup
In New Orleans, the Trashman Will Have to Move Mountains

By JENNIFER MEDINA
New York Times
October 16, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - On one front lawn, a two-foot-high pile of debris stands 
where a hedge would normally be. A rusting mattress lies next to a 
bottle of cleaning fluid and a television set. The stench of paint 
combined with weeks-old food is choking. Flies hover over the whole 
thing, zeroing in on a handful of foil-wrapped chocolate eggs.

This is just one pile. There are thousands upon thousands of others, 
totaling 22 million tons of waste, according to state officials. They 
have baked in the swampy heat for weeks now, making this city look and 
smell like a landfill.

It is more trash than any American city produces in a year. It is enough 
to fill the Empire State Building 40 times over. It will take at least 
3.5 million truckloads to haul it away. "It is absolutely and completely 
revolting," Kathleen McGoey said on a recent day as she stood in front 
of a mound of Sheetrock, wicker chairs and moldy clothes outside an 
apartment building she owns.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/national/nationalspecial/16garbage.html?hp

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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