One Country's Trash is Another's Culture (Art History Photo Essay 2010)

Rome Summer 2010: Photo Comparison, Prof Lisa Schultz

One Country’s Trash Is Another’s Culture: Images of Trash Collection in Istanbul and Rome, and their Implications

I first heard them as I sat in the Rome Center’s student lounge, the open window behind me overlooking the Campo de Fiori. The market was closing up for the afternoon, and the sounds of closing umbrellas and chattering cashiers was being replaced by... engines? The roar of two, maybe three poured in through the open window, amidst the rushing of large, motorized brushes and the scraping of metal tools on the cobblestones. I stood from my computer chair, and stuck my head out the window. At least five orange-clad garbage soldiers were well at work cleaning up the Campo for the evening’s activities.

Trash cleanup in the Campo de Fiori, Rome, Italy

The garbage cleanup of the Campo de Fiori around 4:00pm every day (and reportedly 4:00am every day, post-nocturnal trash-making), became a noticeable part of my time in Rome. The smell of the market’s piled refuse was often what first greeted us after class in the Rome Center. Many afternoons we retreated to Magnolia Café, stepping over heaps of trash and moldering vegetables to get to a cool café latte freddo and a break from the smell and noise.

At first the contrast seemed starkly against the grain of American trash philosophy; our cities are filled with convenient trashcans every twenty feet, and garbage men are usually heard, not seen, often before the crack of dawn. We put our own trash in garbage cans, giving an appearance of more independence from the trash collection system, as if our society wouldn’t come crumbling down if they ever went on strike. Yet Italy’s dependence on their trash men could hardly be more obvious and literally, out in the open. Without the clockwork of trash cleanup (not just pickup) twice a day, the Campo, at least, would quickly descend into fetid squalor. This open-aired reliance on garbage men can also be seen in the respect given to such service people; Lisa once told us that a garbage man or barista had just as much career respect as an engineer. This fit a pattern that I noticed and was taught about time and time again within Italian culture: an inefficient, time consuming, and slow paced process, that is also built upon tradition and respect.

While this was in strong contrast to American garbage processes, it was starkly contrasted with the Turkish maintenance systems in Istanbul. In public areas, trashcans stood nearly every five feet. They were obvious, numerous, and clearly meant to be utilized by the individual. No team of expert collectors would be coming around twice every day to spend a half hour cleaning up after you; instead, maintenance relied on your work. Perhaps twice over the entire trip I saw a garbage man (only ever one at a time), not cleaning, but merely emptying the cans, or pouring the dumpsters into his truck. I felt this embodied a pattern that could be seen in Istanbul: it is a modern city, built not on age-old traditions but instead on efficient systems, that work only really when the individual, rather than the government drives them. Kind of a free capitalist vibe I thought.

A trash can in the historic district of Istanbul, Turkey

These contrasting philosophies did not keep there from being some similarities to the trash systems, though the majority was visual. The bright orange color followed us from Italy to Turkey, as did the tourists who hungrily looked every which way for a place to stash their ice cream cone nubs (and in Istanbul, they actually found one!). By examining this facet of the European cultures, I felt I had found a unique way to view a deeply important part of life within both cities. In doing so, I noticed not just less trash men or more cans, but also a contrasting philosophy – one that I used as a lens to examine larger details of each country (their economies, their immigration, and lifestyles), and to help myself find a place to toss a pizza napkin or two.