Warning

In Astoria, a sealed garbage incinerator, the use of which was outlawed twenty years ago:


Department of Environmental Protection
§3-01 Cessation of Operation and Removal and Sealing of Refuse Burning Equip- ment. (a) Prohibition. (1) Purusant to Local Law 39 of 1989, effective June 28, 1993, all owners of refuse burning equipment shall cease the operation of and remove and seal such refuse burning equipment. (2) Compliance with prohibition. All such owners shall comply with the prohibition set forth in subdivision (a)(1) by either removal of all auxiliary burners and sealing of all doors to refuse burning equipment, or by conversion of the charging chute for such refuse burning equipment to a refuse chute in accordance with all applicable Department of Buildings laws and rules. For the purposes of this paragraph "sealing" means the removal of incinerator grates and compliance with subdivision (e) of §24-01 of Chapter 24 of the Rules of Department of Buildings of the City of New York governing fireproofing.

I can catch a whiff of camphor balls just reading that notice.  Carpet sweepings.  Floor scrapings.  Oil soaked rags.  The very terms themselves residue from the life of mid-twentieth century apartment dwelling.  The humblest of scraps from a city's past.