![[S2E7] Trash Talk Part 1: How (Not) to Recycle Your Christmas Tree Artwork](https://www.buzzsprout.com/rails/active_storage/representations/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaHBCSWczaWdZPSIsImV4cCI6bnVsbCwicHVyIjoiYmxvYl9pZCJ9fQ==--3dbe427a1a923f3fb421cc9db09bee13c6508558/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaDdDVG9MWm05eWJXRjBPZ2hxY0djNkUzSmxjMmw2WlY5MGIxOW1hV3hzV3docEFsZ0NhUUpZQW5zR09nbGpjbTl3T2d0alpXNTBjbVU2Q25OaGRtVnlld1k2REhGMVlXeHBkSGxwUVRvUVkyOXNiM1Z5YzNCaFkyVkpJZ2x6Y21kaUJqb0dSVlE9IiwiZXhwIjpudWxsLCJwdXIiOiJ2YXJpYXRpb24ifX0=--1924d851274c06c8fa0acdfeffb43489fc4a7fcc/WhatsApp%20Image%202024-02-22%20at%2014.10.14.jpeg)
Schnitz & Giggles
What happens when an American and an Austrian sit down together to debate culture? Is it going to be a victory for US? Will the Wiener take it all? Are they even making sense? Listen in and find out more about living la vida loca in Vienna & Austria.
We fry new episodes every other Thursday.
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Schnitz & Giggles
[S2E7] Trash Talk Part 1: How (Not) to Recycle Your Christmas Tree
Can Vienna truly be the cleanest city in the world, or is it just an urban myth? Join the Edelwisecrackers as Dr. Schnitzel admits to loving the chance to correct Mr. Giggles but proves unsuccessful in keeping him from wandering off topic.
Discover how Vienna's MA48 department orchestrates a perfectly choreographed trash collection, often likened to an "orange ballet," that keeps the city streets spotless. Learn how the department not only tackles waste but also keeps the city moving through snowy winters, proving that Vienna isn’t just organized—it’s an art form.
And if that weren’t enough already, we decided January would be the perfect month to dive into Christmas traditions. From the last-minute rush to set up a tree on Christmas Eve to the daring use of real candles that keep the fire department on high alert, these customs are sure to warm your festive spirits. Only 11 more months to go!
Our lively chat might just help you decide whether to embrace these traditions—while also sparking a debate about the legality of hauling a Christmas tree on Vienna’s public transport.
In the spirit of sustainability, we’ll even show you how elephants play a role in Vienna’s recycling process. And all of this is just Part One of a strange journey that will convince you the Schnitz & Giggles’ trashy jokes are anything but a waste of time!
Thank you, guten hallo and welcome back to the Schnitzel and Giggles podcast. Guten hallo, hello.
Dr. Schnitzel:Lucas. Hello, michael, good to see you again. Yes, it's been quite a long time. Yeah, it's been a while. Always good to see you. It's been a while it's been a while Since we've recorded a podcast. Oh you start singing now. Yeah, Well we're trying out some new things can't do the same old things all the time no, the beauty of this podcast.
Mr. Giggles:We were just talking about how, uh, we have kind of a blank, blank slate, open pathway to go a lot of topics we're not like cut into and a little little behind behind the scenes, the the way we've. If you haven't figured it out already, um, which you know, fair enough. If you haven't, um, where's he's going? But a lot of this podcast is based on the principle that that Lucas brings in some sort of information that he's either you know, he brings up a topic to me to talk about.
Mr. Giggles:So when we start these things I only have kind of a general idea of where we're going.
Dr. Schnitzel:So, uh, so, lucas what do you got for me today? Well, that's another great thing. I really, by the way, I really love, uh, doing this podcast because, as we've talked about this before, austriansrians love to correct people, oh boy. And this podcast has really taken me on a meta level, like another level, because I'm using this podcast to correct all expats from an Austrian perspective on what they're doing wrong all the time.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, so this is just a.
Dr. Schnitzel:This is just me Every other week shimping for Michael. This is just my personal satisfaction podcast.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, I get to wear the the bad behavior of other expats. I assume most of these things are are because of things you've experienced with others exactly in person.
Dr. Schnitzel:This is just vengeance.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, yeah, don't make me start correcting you. Oh, I'm not that austrian no, you gotta learn. Once you get that there, then you might get a might not be able to do this podcast anymore. You get a medal from the mayor of vienna, or something nice, okay, so all right. So what are we talking about? What are you talking about?
Dr. Schnitzel:well, what are you correcting today? I'm sure there'll be some correcting for you in this episode. Oh boy, since I gotta ask you, what do you do with your? If you're like home, or even if you're out there moving around in the city and you happen to have some trash, what do you usually do with that?
Mr. Giggles:you just throw it on the ground, okay, no, that's. I think it kind of depends on where I'm at. It sounds like we're we're going to be talking about our, our friends in orange m48 yeah, you, yeah, you're on to something.
Dr. Schnitzel:Wow, Because I mean let's be more specific. Let's say you're just out there in the city and you just grabbed some lunch and maybe you bought a plastic bottle of your favorite drink beverage and then you had the food in some wrappers, some I don't know, whatever it is made out of paper. I mean, what do you do with that? That's really the question I would, I would throw it in one of the very regularly provided trash cans.
Mr. Giggles:It kind of depends on where I'm at, which is why, you know, I said it depends on where I'm at because, fair enough, if I'm on a, if I'm on a ubon platform, there are multiple trash cans with designated items that need to go into it. So if that was the case, I would put my plastic bottle in the plastic section. I would put my paper wrappings in the paper section. Like a good citizen you get some citizen points here If I'm out walking the street, I'll throw it all away in one go in one of the trash cans. I probably won't walk around searching for a specific trash can, which is maybe the wrong way to do it. I don't know. Is this a correction moment?
Dr. Schnitzel:no, I think you you have proven to be very observant, like you actually noticed that there are different trash cans. So that's, you get some extra citizen points here. Future citizen points yeah, great from them one step closer to that reward from the mayor, from the office of the mayor, just oh, now it's just the office of the mayor, the actual. No, I mean, they're keeping track, that's what I'm saying like his staff is keeping track of all the expats and living in vienna and they're just, yeah, dropping those points on their account.
Mr. Giggles:They're using spruce wayne's listening network yeah, the secret surveillance network.
Dr. Schnitzel:However he does that it's a good reason to use it. But you are correct about sometimes there are no other options. You just have one, just one trash can and, as you just mentioned earlier, there are like literally almost on every corner in Vienna. You can find those trash cans. They're usually grayish.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, that's certainly one of the things that probably contributes to Austria's ranking is one of the or the nicest place to live is its cleanliness. There isn't a lot of trash on the streets. There's multiple places to throw a trash can trash into. There's lots of trash cans that are empty most of the time, which just goes to show how many staff members there are that are that are in the ma48, the ma48 is just.
Dr. Schnitzel:I mean it's called 48 because it's there's different departments in the city of vienna and the 48th kind of. I don't know if you call it department, it's yeah, they numbered them. I mean, ma is for magistrate or magistrate's abteilung, something like that. So if you have to go get a visa, for example which is a very common thing for expats you go to the ma35, is that I mean?
Mr. Giggles:35. I think it's 35 right, so my mind was drawing a blank. I was hoping you weren't expecting me to jump in with a number because I was scrambling I haven't had to go in a while. So it's.
Dr. Schnitzel:It's been out of my mind if you don't know our name, we take the visa yeah, well, guten bye, bye, alright, see you later see you later across the Atlantic again, so I don't know if you ever heard that term before. I have to admit, it's been even a strange thing for me to hear, but supposedly there's this term out there in vienna called the orange ballet. So, and what they mean is actually those nice men who are taking out taking the trash, and they're all dressed in orange yeah, so I don't know why to resemble ballet dancers well, I'll tell you what.
Mr. Giggles:As I was, I was walking the streets and you saw someone dancing wearing orange but actually it was just yesterday, as I was walking to the school. Yesterday was trash pickup in our neighborhood, apparently, and there does seem to be a certain rhythm to how the guys are picking up their trash. Yeah right, they're walking ahead of each other and grabbing it, putting it in the truck, so I could see it being a bit of a bit of a dance. There's a choreography?
Dr. Schnitzel:that's actually true. So it is. They're super well organized because there's usually two or three guys and one is usually ahead of the truck and he makes sure that all those trash, the big trash cans, are ready to for the pickup for the truck, and then there's the other guy just putting it into the truck and sometimes there's another guy falling in the back and he puts back all those empty cans and takes them back into those buildings, so there's a certain system to it, and that's also why they're super effective.
Dr. Schnitzel:They have to be, because they would often block the streets, as they go from house to house.
Mr. Giggles:Right, there is. That same moment to go from house to house right there is, you know, that same, that same moment. I noticed that, uh, you know there was a bit of a backup because there's, you know, in our neighborhoods, just a little one, one lane street, and so the one side, there were a number of cars that were backed up behind them, but they kept moving.
Dr. Schnitzel:They're quick, they're quick, they have their rhythm, so it's not that big of an issue and even in the denser parts of the city I often observe that too is that they sometimes the truck would just go around the block just to clear the street again, so just going around while the other men are still working on the streets. Very considerate, yeah, they, they go around and they come back again and so all the cars can move and and the street is clear again.
Mr. Giggles:So that's very considerate yeah of them yeah, the ma48 is interesting because it seems like it's not just trash. Is that right? I mean because right I? I may be wrong here and obviously you'll correct me, obviously, but but is the ma48 also responsible for clearing streets in the wintertime of snow?
Dr. Schnitzel:yeah, you're right, you're. They're basically in charge of all that. I mean they're sweeping the streets any time of the year, but if there's snow and there's the snow plow and everything is also part of the MA. Just keeping the roads clear from any kind of it's called pollution, even if the snow is not really Right. It's a nice thing to have, but anything that would hinder and the regular traffic is their job.
Mr. Giggles:That is the incredible thing about snow days here in the city is how quickly even minor streets are cleared of the snow, and obviously there's been in other European cities when it snows. It's obviously there's been in other european cities when it snows, and usually the clearing that's done is the cars that are driving on the snow and they make the the pathway with their, with their own cars, and it never, really ever, gets cleared. But here I mean you, you almost know that it's, you know, one of those, one of those nights when it snows overnight yeah right and you don't you know, maybe it's a surprise snowstorm for us, like we weren't checking the.
Mr. Giggles:You know, it snowed because of the sound the sound yeah, you hear the tracks of the trucks outside and those start quite early. Yeah, I mean at four o'clock, five o'clock, I don't know. So the way they mobilize the staff to to all get out to their different spots and and and clear the streets is pretty amazing. Because, there's very, very few times, it seems, where there's many delays during snow days due to the roads being blocked or anything like that.
Dr. Schnitzel:No, that's absolutely true. They would make sure that the main roads are cleared and even, like you said, the smaller ones also get enough attention so you can move from a to b. That is quite impressive, I would say. Even me. Having lived in vienna all my life, I'm used to that. Yeah, it's kind of what I expect yeah to, if I step out of the door in the morning and it's a snow day even the sidewalks.
Dr. Schnitzel:Or even the sidewalks, I mean, that's, that's uh the sidewalks are the responsibility of the actual, of the houses, of the of the buildings yeah, that makes sense.
Dr. Schnitzel:So there's, there's that, uh, but even that is, there's a certain law, I think starting at six o'clock, you have to have the the sidewalks cleared. Wow, so if you own a house, yeah, and someone trips, falls over because of the snow, and you hadn't cleared the the sidewalk, but only after 6 am, then you actually are liable for their, yeah, for those accidents you might get, is that?
Mr. Giggles:the same throughout the entire city. Yes, because it seems like like as you get into the more densely populated areas down in the, the lower number districts, that there's very rarely that the sidewalk has those patches of like in our neighborhood. You'll be walking on the sidewalk and you'll have nice clean sidewalks and then you'll go have to go over a section where it's not been cleared.
Dr. Schnitzel:Okay it usually stops at the like the next house. Yeah, exactly at the property line. The guy just stopped the next building owner or whatever they.
Mr. Giggles:They won't even give you a couple centimeters. Yeah, there's nothing. But uh, I don't know if I've had that experience walking through the city on a snowy day. Necessarily, it seems like maybe just the building owners in the lower number districts are better at cleaning their sidewalks. I don't know.
Dr. Schnitzel:I mean, there's always some that well, let's put this this way Some start clearing the snow quite early, and then it snows again, and while the others are clearing, the street. Their their part of the sidewalk is getting snowed in again, so sometimes you don't know.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, it's kind of a constant.
Dr. Schnitzel:It's kind of a constant work. Yeah, sometimes you have to do like every hour if it's really heavy, snow, um, yeah, but uh, putting that aside, I'm not sure if there's any exceptions, for I don't like factory buildings or something like that, where there's usually no, especially like in the outskirts of the city where there's no real walking traffic and traffic yeah, pedestrian traffic, but in general.
Dr. Schnitzel:So if someone falls at 5 55 am, that's their problem, but if they fall down at 6 05 am, then it's your problem. If you own this house, and until I think it's 10 pm, that's so like the night hours are kind of. Uh, you don't have to shovel in the night hours, sure, but starting early in the morning you might be responsible for someone else's safety.
Mr. Giggles:My question about all that is is where they store all the little rocks, because you know, during the snowy days they'll throw down these little tiny I know pebbles that are sharp stick in your shoes. Yeah, it's really hard to get rid of all over the place during the winter, just if there's snow or not. They're gonna be out on the, on the sidewalks, you're walking on them just something you kind of get used to, I guess but then they're gone, like once the springtime hits.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, the rocks are gone well, they actually take them, they recycle them too. I mean, they kind of sweep them up, yeah. So I guess that was my question they sweep them up enough, and then like and take them back and store them somewhere. Back in the storage.
Mr. Giggles:So there's just a big pile of little rocks.
Dr. Schnitzel:I mean right next to the snow plows that are sitting there.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, I guess there's. You have some extra storage for those pebbles. Yeah, the amount of infrastructure which is a smart thing necessary for for all this stuff is uh. But again, it's the the reality of of living within that. It's easy to not notice it. Sometimes it becomes so normal you don't even think about the amount of man hours that are behind the quality of life here.
Mr. Giggles:You know the amount of the amount of people who are out there working as part of their job to spread rocks on the ground and spread salts, and then pick them all up and so shout out to ma48 your, your service is appreciated yeah, I mean, this is where taxes go, this is where tax money goes and sometimes you don't see, it's because the service is just almost invisible as in the trash is taken care of.
Dr. Schnitzel:Uh, the streets are taken care of.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, I think we'd, we'd, uh, we'd start to notice it pretty quickly If if uh it wasn't there, the city of Vienna would change dramatically If just the MA 48 and we should get the sponsored by the MA 48, there's a great commercial for them, but uh yeah, no yeah, I think, I think, uh, austria loses its rating, could probably lose a couple of the other mas and you wouldn't necessarily like the quality of life might not be as as impacted but right yeah ma48 man, you'd have trash all over the place and they probably get paid pretty well.
Mr. Giggles:I feel like they're I heard I heard that their labor agreement.
Dr. Schnitzel:they probably have a lot of leverage.
Mr. Giggles:Yes, Threaten a strike.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, I mean so far I've never witnessed a strike coming from the MA48. So it seems they're at good terms, acceptable terms.
Mr. Giggles:Well, mayor's office be listening here. Like give them whatever they want, yes, Just keep them happy.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, keep them happy. You don't want the opposites to happen.
Mr. Giggles:would be terrible but to get back a little bit to the to the trash sorting question, um asking for a friend yeah you know not, it's not a personal question, so much um sure.
Mr. Giggles:Are there any consequences to not following the the different sorting things? Because, mean, we have a within our building, we have obviously our general trash can and then we have a can for like food waste specifically, which is all very it gets very complicated. Sometimes it's easier to not do it. It's a my friend. My friend tells me, um, because there's certain food items that, like you, can't put in the food item bag or bin.
Dr. Schnitzel:Uh. So when you talk about the food, do you mean like the, the one with the brown lids or the black lids brown, or has your friend? Has your friend?
Mr. Giggles:uh, my friend has told you uh, I don't know if my friend knows. Uh, well enough, no, I think it's the the green, the green one with the brown lid, Because a lot of them are green but have different lids.
Dr. Schnitzel:It's the bio-müll.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, sure.
Dr. Schnitzel:That is actually a great thing. Just to start off, that's kind of even the minor thing, but it's fascinating. So these special ones that are green and have a brown lid. It says bio-müll, so bio as in bio, like it's the organic waste. What you're supposed to put in there is anything that I'm not sure. There's maybe some food items you shouldn't put in there, that's true, but I'm not an expert on these things. Ah, so you're, but the point is Maybe you're the friend I'm asking for. Oh, you're the friend, but this is. I really like that that trash can, because when they take it, they all put it on a big, big pile of organic waste. Yeah, and, as you know, when you have it's compost in, german, yeah, yeah so compost and in english so that's the same word.
Mr. Giggles:Uh, that's what happens when, uh, when you let organic waste just sit there long enough, back it goes back into the soil and becomes nutrients Right, and it just becomes dirt again.
Dr. Schnitzel:So if you ever have a yard or you have even just some flower bed at your apartment, you can actually go to the MA48 and get some of this fresh dirt.
Mr. Giggles:this soil Interesting.
Dr. Schnitzel:You basically put the waste into the correct bin and then they take it and after some time you can actually can harvest, so to speak.
Mr. Giggles:A reward.
Dr. Schnitzel:A reward for your efforts so that doesn't happen with all the others. That's what I'm just saying. It's kind of special sure yeah, I'm not.
Mr. Giggles:I don't have a big use for, uh, for old cardboard.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, I mean, I guess if I was moving you might have bought some I don't know some paper that is actually made out of the old cardboard yeah, that's fair. Sometimes we don't. We don't see the whole cycle of recycling yeah but it's uh great, that's, we're actually saving lots of like energy and money and all these things just for doing that one of the other.
Mr. Giggles:The other things that makes me think of is the way the ma48 deals with christmas trees.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're also in charge of that. Yeah, the christmas season you know, christmas live.
Mr. Giggles:Christmas trees are something that are very popular here in the city. Maybe also to point it out.
Dr. Schnitzel:You can you actually almost everyone buys a life. Uh well, by that time, not live anymore. But like, cut off, it's still used to, it's still kind of kind of like yeah it's's a freshly cut live tree. We buy dying trees, so to speak.
Mr. Giggles:Correct which this whole thing might be a Christmas-themed episode topic, but even how and when. In the States, going and buying a fresh tree is a little expensive. Prices are usually kind of high. Sometimes they're separate, and when I was growing up we had some areas where where it was a christmas tree farm and so they were just growing. You know, in the middle of southern california, usually along old, uh, railroad tracks, uh, they would build these big, big christmas.
Mr. Giggles:They would be like under power lines, so they couldn't build apparently a lot of other buildings but they could grow a forest of christmas it doesn't grow that high yeah, and so we would go there, uh, every, every december and pick out our tree and a dude would come out and cut it down for you and it was nice, it was really fresh.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, yeah, it was super fresh, uh, but it was relatively expensive even at that time. But christmas trees over here aren't that expensive, right, comparatively? Like for me, like when we've come over here and we're our first, our first christmas, especially and we were like, oh yeah, you know it's christmas time go out to buy a christmas tree and expecting that we're gonna have to spend all this money on a tree and it was, you know, for a nice size tree was less than 40 euro, which was which was a big surprise for me um, so a lot of people were buying christmas trees. As a result, there's christmas tree lots all over the place, where there's, you know, stacks of christmas trees, and but when we buy those trees is is something that's different. I'm kind of going off off track.
Dr. Schnitzel:Here we're going into a different episode. No, we'll get back to the m48.
Mr. Giggles:We're gonna get back there. We're gonna get back there, but I trust you, my friend growing up. When would you buy your christmas tree as a family? When would you put the christmas tree in your house?
Dr. Schnitzel:when I mean there's a few different traditions. Our family just did it a couple days before christmas, but the, the true austrian tradition, is probably the day of christmas. Even so, december 24th yeah, in in our case is really the, the time in the afternoon, and usually austrians celebrate christmas in the evening, not not so on christmas day the 25th is when you get your christmas tree. Yeah, because we celebrate christmas on christmas eve so the day off in the afternoon, that's when of christmas eve of christmas eve.
Dr. Schnitzel:So during the day on the 24th, yeah, you buy the dinner's cooking in the house you guys all go out and get your christmas tree and then, yeah, you decorate and then you have a meal and then it's christmas celebration, like also the those little markets that pop up, like christmas tree markets that pop up in the city of during that time. They only, uh, open up, I think, two weeks before christmas or mid-december, but that's changed now some sell it a little earlier, but because we're buying our christmas tree like first week of december.
Mr. Giggles:but that was always because I have a early december birthday and so the buying of the christmas tree and putting it up always kind of happened either like right around my birthday or just after my birthday, and so we have our Christmas tree up for a month and a half.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah.
Mr. Giggles:And American households. That's kind of the standard the norm. We don't wait until Christmas Eve.
Dr. Schnitzel:I know, but that's why you need correction from our perspective.
Mr. Giggles:No, we're going to enjoy our Christmas tree for the entire month of december and we're gonna like it because there's christmas tree markets that seem to open at the beginning of december, but they they certainly don't seem as busy, right, because most people aren't buying them. There's probably all us internationals that are that's probably.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, those americans do people figured out that they can sell some trees early on and the thing is, if you buy a live tree early in december and it's cut off and it's actually dying by the time christmas comes around, it might look a little sad.
Mr. Giggles:You, you get a little stable base that has a little water area. I mean it still soaks up water.
Dr. Schnitzel:It soaks up it soaks up water and it kind of gives it some more time yeah, don't, don't besmirch my christmas tree it's not. It's not dry and dying and dead I'm just, I'm gonna give you some points for just the word besmirch.
Mr. Giggles:Thank you because that's a word that's reading my dictionary.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, it's very rare. Yeah, it seems like you. Uh, you're an educated man, so I'm gonna trust you do the right thing concerning your Christmas trees.
Mr. Giggles:Some would say when the time comes but the most difficult thing usually about a about a christmas tree, is that it is a dead, dying object and you can't just have it in your house for the whole year the whole year. This would be a problem. Right, lots of fires. You know, christmas trees are very, very flammable, that's true. We've got a lot of sap in there every year. They get dry.
Mr. Giggles:There's houses that you know, every year it happens, the tragic stories of a of a christmas tree. I think a big part of that is is uh, no longer putting canned like actual candles on a christmas tree that's probably a. That was a big step in the the fire prevention world.
Dr. Schnitzel:But some people still like love that I mean it's. It is certainly different than electric light. Uh, some people still enjoy doing that in austria, really yeah, they still have so, so dangerous Austrians.
Mr. Giggles:Well, we like to live dangerously.
Dr. Schnitzel:We like to live dangerously Well we have stricter gun laws, but candles, don't take those away from us. Oh boy, that is crazy.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, get those candles away. Once they get close to pine sap and their wicks are no longer lightable.
Dr. Schnitzel:That's a really funny statement from you From me.
Mr. Giggles:Pine sap and their wicks are no longer lightable.
Dr. Schnitzel:That's a really funny statement from you I mean, I know you're not, you're not the guy, you're not the guy like, uh, holding up a rifle and just saying merry christmas everyone and just shooting like like bullets in the air. But it's sort of for me, as an austrian, like candles.
Mr. Giggles:You're so scared, you're so scared, you're dangerous.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, while you have like an arsenal of weapons.
Mr. Giggles:In your garage, we light our candles with our with our weapons wow, we've gone all over the place.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, do you think we're gonna get come back to it with?
Mr. Giggles:the whole, yeah. So what I appreciate about? About having a live christmas tree in vienna- is the ease of disposal, because growing up we would, that was one that like we'd have to take it out in the backyard. We'd cut it up and we'd throw the wood in a pile and we'd often use it for beach bonfires so in the summertime we'd take, you know, the remnants of our christmas tree and that's effective recycling.
Dr. Schnitzel:I would say that was great, you know that good, it was a good use.
Mr. Giggles:You know we weren't weren't just thrown in the trash can or whatever, but uh, but not a lot of since, since, as we've learned in a recent episode.
Dr. Schnitzel:Uh, I hope this is after the episode where we talked about it.
Mr. Giggles:We don't know um, the city of vienna provides firewood for your bonfires down at the the don't know.
Dr. Schnitzel:So, uh, no need for for burning your your old christmas trees I actually looked it up, by the way, for to go off a little update okay so you have to register if you want to have this barbecue in the city of vienna, and there are only a few. I think it's only 16 places in the whole city of vienna, it's just not. It's not a lot. So you have to book hours and the booking actually costs you 10 euros. Okay, so register, but for those 10 years you get you still get wood you get the firewood and and a place to have a barbecue in public that's a great deal.
Dr. Schnitzel:So in a way it's it's kind of it's for free, but not really for free because you have to pay for the registration, but it's part of the package.
Mr. Giggles:Part of the package, so they get something nice yeah, I mean because they could probably get away with charging 10 euros and just giving you the space. Yeah, they wouldn't have to do that. So, yeah, nobody would bat an eye at that.
Dr. Schnitzel:Maybe, maybe that firewood is chopped up, christmas trees from the winter season. I mean, we'll give you an update after the summer when we, when we do it, if we do we need to track one christmas tree like we have to put a little tag on a little apple tag inside it inside and see what happens where it ends up, if it ends up at don't answer or not yeah, I feel like we'll end up losing once that thing goes in the shredder I'm sure spruce wayne has the technology to provide us with that possibly.
Mr. Giggles:Possibly you give him a call um.
Dr. Schnitzel:But to get back to to the role of the ma48, we'll never make it they've.
Mr. Giggles:they've got all these collection points around the city where they've got a little sign that says you know Christmas tree collection point and you just drop your tree there and then they take it. They take it yeah, do we know at all what happens to those trees? I know we haven't put the tracker on yet and maybe the fact that you thought we needed a tracker, maybe we don't have that info.
Dr. Schnitzel:But do we know what the, what the trees are used for a?
Mr. Giggles:handful of those end up being food for the elephants at the vienna zoo. Feeding elephants christmas tree yes, they love them what that doesn't seem like a very nutritious meal, for let's kind of these fine pachyderms it.
Dr. Schnitzel:It's sort of their late Christmas dinner, I guess. Wow, they just you know they ripped them apart. They love that. So there's, if you go to the zoo after Christmas or like sometime in January, you might see some Christmas trees just flying around.
Mr. Giggles:Alright, just to clarify, because in my mind I think I'm picturing something different. Are they throwing a whole Christmas tree in there and they're they're playing with it and then eating like the leaves and stuff off it, or are they processing the trees and like putting a bunch of sawdust into a bowl?
Dr. Schnitzel:no, no, no, they don't need any processing. I mean okay, do you think an elephant is? Is uh, intimidated by a christmas Like this is too much for me.
Mr. Giggles:I can't handle this, no but that was the source of my shock is why we would think it was okay to just give elephants a bowl of sawdust.
Dr. Schnitzel:So it's my problem. I misunderstood, okay, yeah, no, no, no sawdust, no unprocessed, real, organic trees.
Mr. Giggles:So it's like a meal with a shell for them. They get to play with this tree, they get to wrestle it Right.
Dr. Schnitzel:Then they eat it. It's just fun times for elephants, alright.
Mr. Giggles:Well, good for the elephants, that's fun. So what happens to the rest of them? Nobody knows. There aren't that many elephants in Austria.
Dr. Schnitzel:Right, there's not so many. They have a lot of work to do those elephants take for the whole season, yeah, the whole year. They have to like we're sick of christmas, sorry, september, we're still eating christmas trees. No, I mean, the rest of those trees probably goes where the other organic waste goes, so you can have.
Mr. Giggles:You might have get your compost soil at some point and maybe it's part of its Christmas trees, yeah, Getting rid of the Christmas tree has actually turned into quite a fun Christmas tradition for us because we live on the first story of a building and for you Americans that is the second story. So we are above ground a few feet and, as you have implied, the Christmas tree is not as fresh and alive by the time we're taking it. So the needles are falling off and it could create quite a mess. And when you purchase a christmas tree, they wrap it up and that they use that cool little contraption that they throw it through and it wraps it up in plastic wrap.
Mr. Giggles:Super impressive, um makes it really easy to carry home. Uh, carrying our christmas tree on the bus is a is like which I'm not sure if we're fully allowed to do. Are you allowed to take christmas tree on a bus?
Dr. Schnitzel:I'm not sure if there's a law against that.
Mr. Giggles:So as long as you don't get stopped and find because okay, the last time, the last time we got our christmas tree this last christmas, dragged it onto the bus and I'm standing there and the bus driver yelled something at me and I'm not entirely sure what it was. I kind of like returned the cultural awkwardness was, you know, maybe a shawarma, it's, you know, no problem, no problem, you know, whatever. Just going a couple stops and then we just moved. So I was I don't know if he was like wishing me a merry christmas and I just didn't catch it or he was giving me a hard time about bringing a tree on, uh, because it was snowing that day too, like we thought it would be pretty magical to go buy our christmas tree in the snow.
Mr. Giggles:I mean you're allowed to have some sort of luggage with you on the yeah, I mean we transportations or in the carry stuff onto the, onto the buses all the time if it's oversized, then there might be an issue.
Dr. Schnitzel:If it's like way taller than like the average person and you know well, I didn't fit it in it was, it was a pretty big christmas tree, no big deal um
Mr. Giggles:uh, but anyways, we we got it in and it's a lot easier to carry it up the stairs when it's in that plastic wrap. But I don't have such a contraption at home. No, to wrap my, my old tree in and so like carrying it down our staircase and carrying it out would would create quite a mess. And so we have we our first year in our new apartment. I thought our window is big enough for this tree to fit through, and so now we throw our Christmas tree out the window onto the sidewalk.
Dr. Schnitzel:Nice.
Mr. Giggles:And usually Rebecca goes downstairs and we get a shopping cart from the nearby grocery store.
Dr. Schnitzel:She catches the tree.
Mr. Giggles:Well, so we remember our first, uh, our first experience doing this differently. I remember throwing it down and it hitting the ground and then we put it in the shopping cart. Rebecca remembers catching it in the shopping cart, which might be true. Uh, it might be true. It might have been a good throw and a good catch. Um, you know our athletic family, whatever make a game out of everything.
Mr. Giggles:Um, but either way, this last year we did was a little bit bigger tree and so catching it might have, might have caused some issues. So I just throw it down and you know, rebecca, make sure that there's nobody. There's been a couple times where, like, people have actually been walking on the sidewalk and I was a little nervous about it because like, okay, oh crap, we're gonna get yelled at for throwing a christmas tree out the window. And yet we actually got. We got met with smiles and laughter and like, ah, that's a good idea type thing. So that has turned into to quite a fun a-Christmas, oftentimes post-New Year's activity where you know, all right, we're going to throw the tree out the window.
Mr. Giggles:Come on, kalen, come out and watch.
Dr. Schnitzel:I heard this was a tradition in Sweden, as a matter of fact, throwing trees out the window Like no kidding, like after Christmas Really. So I think that's what they really do, sorry.
Mr. Giggles:Nordic roots are showing.
Dr. Schnitzel:I mean your nordic roots are coming through wow yeah, maybe it's. I'm not sure if it's a certain day where all of them do it, so it's like everyone's clear of the street that's a dangerous day.
Mr. Giggles:Everyone does at the same time, I'm not sure.
Dr. Schnitzel:Uh, if that is the case, but I am, I've heard of that, that concept, that in sweden. Well, this is swedish, swedish listeners, let us know. Yeah please.
Mr. Giggles:Is this a tradition in fact in your fine country? I mean kind of anticlimactic for people who live on the ground floor, it's just.
Dr. Schnitzel:I wish I lived on a higher floor, so I could really throw out.
Mr. Giggles:Also quite dangerous for people living on the lower floor. Drought looking, looking. Get a tree trunk in your head. What's the weather like? It's raining christmas trees.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah well, it's not man. Well, I can tell you something it's not an austrian tradition. So what you're starting is potentially, I mean, but fun to look at oh it's, it's a ton of fun.
Mr. Giggles:We we have yet to get any, any filmed evidence of it. I've I've tried to like hold my phone and film as I throw it out, um, but we haven't. We haven't ever gotten the.
Dr. Schnitzel:The video evidence from the ground floor maybe I need to come over that day when yeah, I'll invite you over, it'll be fun well, yeah we can.
Mr. Giggles:We can have a beverage yeah, drink some something hot yeah, have some glue vine and stand outside as we throw our christmas tree, trying to get our neighbors to do it, but you mean the american neighbors or the other thing.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, I don't know if our upstairs neighbors would do it.
Mr. Giggles:We'll have to ask bill uh if he's willing to to throw his christmas tree out the window. That would be.
Dr. Schnitzel:I mean, they're a lot higher up, you should convince him and then he's like so what I do? Now it's actually a plastic tree, Then we just gotta carry it back up. It's in pieces. Oh sorry, it's broken.
Mr. Giggles:Yeah, I don't know if they do have a real tree traditionally. Oh, maybe that's one of the effects of the schnitzel google's podcast is that more people are throwing their trees out the window yep, maybe more americans buying actual live trees and not having too many plastic trees at home yeah, I don't know what the, what, the breakdown is yeah, what the ratio? Is we need to conduct the survey because obviously there's a lot more, a lot more uh, plastic christmas trees for sale in the stores like, yeah, they're available.
Dr. Schnitzel:Yeah, so obviously people are buying them. Those, uh, haven't been on sale. I mean, those weren't really in the stores years ago yeah it was very rare if you can find one, and now I think it has become a more convenient alternative for lots of people I guess for the people who who like to have their christmas tree up longer, yeah, I mean, I know a few austrians who do have artificial trees at home, but I'm not friends with them anymore. No, why would you be?
Dr. Schnitzel:that's ridiculous they go down to the basement yeah, on christmas eve day and just pop it bring up the box and hey kids, we're gonna put the christmas tree together. That seems a lot less magical. No, yeah, it's not wow so ma48 huh I think this has become a two-parter yeah, maybe so.
Dr. Schnitzel:So what we've gotten out of this is there's no consequences to throwing your trash like bottles into your regular trash well, you asked me that question like two hours ago, before you started talking about christmas trees, and I never had the chance. My friend was good, all right, sorry, sorry. So we'll have to save that answer for the next time, I guess. Wow, cliffhanger, cliffhanger, because I'll tell you there's, there are some consequences if you do it wrong oh no, oh yes, good bye, bye.
