Garbage in the News: Strange but True Stories

Garbage in the News

From creative waste disposal to compulsive hoarding to super cool garbage trucks, there’s no shortage of bizarre garbage stories in the news. Here are a few that will make you laugh, scratch your head, and maybe even start to sing:

  • On April 21, one year after the tragic bombings, the Boston Marathon went off without a hitch. With heightened security and a record-breaking crowd, finding a place to dispose of waste was almost impossible. Not wanted to litter the beloved city’s streets, folks did the best they could, using mailboxes when they couldn’t find a garbage can — or when garbage cans were locked. Any port in a storm!
  • This photo was tweeted by the New York City Fire Department, showing a garbage truck dangling from a parking garage in Queens. Luckily, the NYFD was able to rescue the driver, who escaped with only head and neck injuries.
  • You might not have heard of the Collyer brothers, but the pair are infamous for their bizarre behavior and compulsive hoarding during their life in Manhattan in the early 1900s. In fact, their legend is so great that firefighters today use the phrase “Collyer’s Mansion” to refer to a dwelling of hoarders that is so filled with trash and debris it becomes a serious danger to the occupants and emergency responders.
  • Last year, a Pennsylvania woman was arrested for assaulting a trash collector when he passed her home because her garbage hadn’t been put out yet. Um, overreact much?
  • Usually, major cities struggle to find ways to manage an over-abundance of waste. Not so for Oslo, who can’t get enough of the stuff. The Norwegian capital uses garbage-burning power to fuel around half of its city. Due to increased recycling rates, finding enough trash is so difficult that they’ve been forced to import waste from other countries, including as far away as Ireland.
  • Would you live in a garbage truck? If it looked like this, you just might!