Tracing the hidden afterlives of Philadelphia's trash

Philadelphia has been trying to solve its trash problem for decades. The city's answers have included hundreds of surveillance cameras mounted on telephone poles; 200-year-old sewers still catching what washes off the street; and, once, a ship sent out to sea with 14,000 tons of incinerator ash to find a country that would take it. The nonfiction film In Excess traces Philly's waste across time and space, above ground and below — through streets, sewers, a pumping station, a construction waste facility, and small rooms full of monitors and paperwork. The film is also built, to a remarkable degree, out of footage and sound other filmmakers would have thrown away. In this episode, we hear from director Melissa Langer; archival producer Caitlin Riggsbee, who tracked down forgotten VHS tapes in a Greenpeace basement; and the sound team of Jonathan Snipes and Christopher Fleeger, who recorded in the city's grittiest corners. Together they trace where a city's waste goes, who is paid to handle it, how a sewer grate became the film's musical theme, and why the film resists the conventions of the "environmental documentary." 🌐 Full episode page, transcript, and resources: talkingtrashpod.com 🎬 Watch In Excess and hear an extended cut of this conversation: videostoreage.com 📱 Follow us: Instagram: @_talkingtrashpod TikTok: @talkingtrashpod YouTube: @talkingtrashpod CREDITS: Host & Show Creator: Matt King Art Director: Frances Miller