City Government

Your Garbage Man is the Best Communicator You Know

My Day in the Life as a Trash Collector in Birmingham, Alabama

Photo by the blowup on Unsplash

I joined the City of Birmingham’s trash collection crew in the Department of Public Works for a day. My goal was to simply experience what they do and to feel what they feel.

I got far more than I expected.

Here is part one of this two-part story.

I arrived at the North Division headquarters of the Department of Public Works at 5:55 am on a balmy Thursday morning. It felt like my first day at a new job. Technically, it was. I was excited and a little nervous.

I met my team leader, Jaccari, on a loading dock where I was given gloves and a bright yellow safety vest. Jacarri is one of the youngest veterans of the Department of Public Works having worked no less than 10 different positions. The man has literally held just about every job one can have from the bottom up and he isn’t even 35 years old.

Jacarri assigned me to a truck with an experienced crew that included Hayik, a veteran Refuse Truck Driver with a great record of driving safety. The OG of the crew, Bubba, was a quiet force. Bubba was of small stature but appeared strong enough to lift the back end of a truck if he…