Oh, hi. It's the French fry under your seat. You won't find for another four months,

alleyward. And here we are. The trashiest episode of allergies ever made. This is another one of those

years in the making interviews. You're going to talk about it forever. So I came across this

person's name in relation to garbage. And I thought, I must meet this garbage person. They seem

great. They are a clinical professor at New York University's Liberal Studies Department. They

teach on the topic of garbage. They have worked intimately with garbage. They did a TED talk

about garbage. They have three anthropology degrees from Columbia University and an undergrad

in anthropology from New York University. And even authored the book, picking up on the streets

and behind the trucks with the sanitation workers of New York City. The perfect fit. Rubbish

research is their life's work. So on a crisp fall day in Manhattan, I navigated the

cobblestrones to a conference room on the NYU City campus. And I routinely test for COVID

for shoots and stuff. I had tested negative the day before. But I had been in an indoor gallery

event that week. So I wanted to keep my mask on for our interview just in case because COVID is

awful. But masks are easy. Oh, one other easy thing to do if you don't mind is maybe tell a

friend about this podcast, allergies. Or you can support by becoming a patron for a dollar a

month at patreon.com slash allergies. Also, rating, subscribing and leaving reviews helps the show

so much. And I read every single one such as this very recent one left by SJC mudhut who said

alley is my new best friend. And I really can't help believing she makes this podcast for me

and me alone. SJC mudhut. It is all for you. Don't tell everyone else. Okay, on the episode,

your brain is about to come a dumpster of facts about what people throw away, where garbage goes,

who takes it there, finding treasure in landfills. When an item becomes garbage, what plastic you

can actually recycle, burning trash, building on trash, cherishing trash and more with professor,

...