I recently did a tour of a NYC Waste Management center in Queens. The installation was huge, roughly the same footprint as the entire wallstreet section of down

I recently did a tour of a NYC Waste Management center in Queens. The installation was huge, roughly the same footprint as the entire wallstreet section of downtown Manhattan. Further, the technology at every step of the waste management process was very impressive. Skimmers on top to separate oily waste, under-water conveyors to separate heavier materials, huge pools of bacteria that can "digest" organic matter turn it into methane that can then heat homes or create power, centrifuges that can do more precise separation. They showed the before and after of the waste from the process. It starts as absolutely disgusting murky green water with dirty wet-naps in it, to crystal clear H20 (although I still wouldn't drink it). The work involves nearly every engineering discipline from bio-chemists to electrical engineers to underwater mechanics to software developers. It's unfortunate it's a public job and the pay isn't great, it's interesting work. But sadly, given all that, every time it rains the rainwater floods the system with more liquid than it can handle and it all gets dumped into the hudson river.