Waste collector

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A smiling city worker prepares to unload new trash containers from a truck and distribute them to citizens of Basra, Iraq, July 1, 2009.

A waste collector is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and remove refuse and recyclables from residential, commercial, industrial or other collection site for further processing and disposal. Specialised waste collection vehicles featuring an array of automated functions are often deployed to assist waste collectors in reducing collection and transport time and for protection from exposure.

Contents

[edit] Hazards

Waste collectors are exposed to many on-the-job hazards, such as chemical burns, disposable needles, broken glass, falling objects from overloaded containers, diseases that may accompany solid waste, asbestos, dog attacks, pests (ants, flies, cockroaches, rodents), dust, inclement weather, traffic, and foul odors.

[edit] Regional colloquialisms

Australia

  • Garbage collector
  • Garbageman
  • Garbo
  • Garbologist (jocular)

British Isles

  • Dustbin man
  • Bin man
  • Dustman[1]
  • Refuse collector

North America

  • Garbageman
  • Garbage collector
  • Trash collector
  • Recycling Tech
  • Toter Tipper
  • Sanman (Sanitation Man)
  • Sanitation Engineer (Political correctness)

[edit] Notable waste collectors

Waste collection vehicle operating in the streets of Prague

Former waste collectors

Fictional waste collectors

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Note that the British term "dustman" stems from the Victorian era, when men would collect the dust - ashes and cinders - created by the many tons of fossils fuels burned in cooking ranges at the time. Victorian London
  2. ^ Q&A with Georges St. Pierre
  3. ^ "Refuse trucks on film". April 2010. http://www.classicrefusetrucks.com/film.html. Retrieved 13 September 2010. 

[edit] References

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