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A waste collector, also known as a garbageman, garbage collector, trashman (in the US), binman or (rarely) dustman (in the UK), is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and dispose of
Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers: An Initial Assessment
World Bank, Washington, DC.
A waste collector, also known as a garbageman, garbage collector, trashman (in the US), binman or (rarely) dustman (in the UK), is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and dispose of municipal solid waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste ...
(refuse) and recyclables from residential, commercial, industrial or other collection sites for further processing and waste disposal. Specialised waste collection vehicles
A garbage truck is a truck specially designed to collect municipal solid waste and transport it to a solid waste treatment facility, such as a landfill, recycling center or transfer station. In Australia they are commonly called rubbish truck ...
(also known as garbage trucks in the US, bin lorries in the UK) featuring an array of automated functions are often deployed to assist waste collectors in reducing collection and transport time and for protection from exposure. Waste and recycling pickup work is physically demanding and usually exposes workers to an occupational hazard.
The first known waste collectors were said to come from Britain in the 1350s, coinciding with the Black Plague
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causin ...
and were called "rakers."
A related occupation is that of a sanitation worker
A sanitation worker (or sanitary worker) is a person responsible for cleaning, maintaining, operating, or emptying the equipment or technology at any step of the sanitation chain.World Bank, ILO, WaterAid, and WHO (2019)Health, Safety and Dignity ...
who operates and maintains sanitation
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation syste ...
technology.World Bank, ILO, WaterAid, and WHO (2019)Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers: An Initial Assessment
World Bank, Washington, DC.
Health and safety hazards
Statistics show that waste collection is one of the most dangerous jobs, at times more dangerous than police work, but consistently less dangerous thancommercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must oft ...
and ranch and farm work. On-the-job hazards include broken glass, medical waste
Biomedical waste or hospital waste is any kind of waste containing infectious (or potentially infectious) materials. It may also include waste associated with the generation of biomedical waste that visually appears to be of medical or laborator ...
such as syringe
A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...
s, caustic chemicals, objects falling out of overloaded containers, diseases that may accompany solid waste, asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
, dog attacks and pests
PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...
, inhaling dust, smoke and chemical fumes, severe weather, traffic accidents, and unpleasant smells that can make someone physically sick.
Society and culture
Regional names
Many varieties of English have a range of names for waste collectors, from formal job titles for municipal employees, to colloquial and regional terms.People
Former waste collectors
* Georges St-Pierre mixed martial artist and UFC Welterweight Champion, (worked as a garbage man for 6 months).Fictional waste collectors
*The films '' Blood Feast'', '' Scanners III: The Takeover'' and '' Child's Play 3'' all feature minor characters being murdered with refuse trucks. *Lala Hagoromo from the 2019 anime '' Star Twinkle PreCure'' collected trash for a living due to her poor skills assessment before becoming Cure Milky.''Star Twinkle PreCure'' episode 29See also
*Beach cleaner
A sand cleaning machine, beach cleaner, or (colloquially) sandboni is a vehicle that drags a raking or sifting device over beach sand to remove rubbish and other foreign matter. They are manually self-pulled vehicles on tracks or wheels or pull ...
* Curbside collection
Kerbside collection or curbside collection is a service provided to households, typically in urban and suburban areas, of collecting and disposing of household waste and recyclables. It is usually accomplished by personnel using specially built ...
* Fecal sludge management
Fecal sludge management (FSM) (or faecal sludge management in British English) is the storage, collection, transport, treatment and safe end use or disposal of fecal sludge. Together, the collection, transport, treatment and end use of fecal slud ...
* Litter
* Memphis sanitation strike, USA, 1968
* Waste management
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*{{cite book , series=California Occupational Guide , number=460 , title=Mechanical{{sndSkilled Occupations: Refuse Collectors , url=http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/file/occguide/Garbage.PDF , publisher=State of California, Employment Development Department , year=2002 , access-date=20 November 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060420040610/http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/file/occguide/Garbage.PDF , archive-date=20 April 2006 , url-status=dead Cleaning and maintenance occupations