Often times in our busy lives, we forget to thank those who make life easier for us. For instance, garbage collectors take care of a task most of us would describe as “gross,” or “too much work,” and they do it with a smile.
In my community, the collectors pick up the trash at 5am every Friday, and proceed to pick up more trash throughout the day.They also have more duties such as: picking up disposed of trash alongside the road, emptying recycling bins and trashcans into the truck, driving the truck to the dump site, putting it into the dumpsite where it is incinerated and put into a landfill.
Commonly thrown away items include used napkins and tissues, baby wipes, rotten food, and other gross entities. People throw away these items because they’ve been used and because if they didn’t, their house would become a trashbin. In order to prevent this from happening, garbage collectors come in.
Collectors do not receive enough recognition when it comes dealing with what no one else wants to: trash. The average annual salary of a garbage collector is about $43,000 and I believe this reasonable; however, there is a social stigma that garbage collectors are dirty, uneducated, and unable to perform any other job. Contrary to popular belief, this not the case. Garbage collectors should be seen as what they are- hard working, selfless, and economically stable samaritans. Garbage collectors are just like you; they have hobbies and interests, they have families and they need to make a living, and they should be shown respect for this.
Respect for our garbage collectors could simply be done with a nice “thank you,” next time you see them or a friendly wave from your doorstep.
Other professions, such as teaching, have an appreciation week dedicated to showing them respect and gratitude. Why we don’t do the same for our garbage collectors?
When raising your children, you raise them with the hopes they will become self-sufficient, responsible, kind, selfless human beings, and a part of a team. Garbage collectors exhibit these qualities and many more when signing up for the job. We are all part of a team, all of us living here in the community work together to make our homes and area surrounding the best it can be, right? We also all advocate helping out with the community, and the work done by garbage collectors help improve the Earth’s landscape from taking in the toxins released from the garbage rotting into the soil.
According to a census taken in 2012, 9,183 people live in Hartland, WI, and some of these people are our garbage collectors. Our community is influenced by all of us, the respect we receive should also be given. In giving respect, we are influencing a small part of our community that can grow and prosper into creating a community to be envied. Garbage collectors, waste managers, garbagemen, regardless of their title, show us what it means to be apart of a community, a team. Therefore, they receive the utmost respect from myself.