Waste collector

"Dustman" redirects here. For the Mega Man enemy, see Robot Master.

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.

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.

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)

Notable waste collectors

Waste collection vehicle operating in the streets of Prague

Former waste collectors

• Andy Abraham - X-Factor contestant
• Larry Bird - hall of fame basketball player - Briefly after dropping out of Indiana University and before enrolling at Indiana State University.
• Michael Carroll - UK National Lottery winner (got his job back in 2010 after he went bankrupt.)
• Richard Leiterman - Cinematographer
• Steve Hutchins - Politician
• Nathan Rees - Politician, former Premier of New South Wales
• Neville Southall - International footballer
• Georges St-Pierre - Mixed martial artist and UFC Welterweight Champion, (worked as a garbage man for 6 months)^[2]
• Benjamin Pell - a quasi-private investigator known in the British press as "Benji The Binman".
• Mike Batt - 1970s songwriter and Illuminatus- his experiences as a waste collector drew him to write songs for The Wombles, and inspired his haunting ballad, "I'm The Fattest Binman In Farnham".
• Martin Phillips - Welsh darts player who has made multiple appearances in the BDO World Amateur Darts Championship

Fictional waste collectors

• Alfred P. Doolittle (Stanley Holloway), a common dustman, My Fair Lady from the stage play, Broadway, 1956; London, 1958; Warner Bros. motion picture, 1964.
• Barney Gorman (Tony Danza) from the 1998 television film The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon
• Carl (Charlie Sheen) and James (Emilio Estevez) from the 1990 film Men at Work
• Howard Moon of The Mighty Boosh has worked twice as a Bin man, once prior to the show and lastly in The Strange Tale of the Crack Fox.
• Louie Wilson (Scatman Crothers) of Chico and the Man
• Mike Droese - Professional wrestler
• Garbageman - From Dilbert
• Muckman - From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Nicodemus (Noddy) Boffin, aka the Golden Dustman, in Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend, probably based on Henry Dodd, a ploughboy who made his fortune removing London's rubbish.
• The 1960s popular song "My Old Man's a Dustman" by Lonnie Donegan
• Bob and Doug McKenzie, on their 2009 animated series
• The films Blood Feast, Scanners III: The Takeover and Child's Play 3 all feature minor characters being murdered with refuse trucks.^[3]
• Roger Wilco - From the Space Quest computer game series by Sierra Entertainment

See also

• 2009 Leeds refuse workers strike
• Beach cleaner
• Curbside collection
• Litter
• Memphis Sanitation Strike
• Waste
• Waste management

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. 

References

• Labor Market Information Division (2002). "California Occupational Guide Number 460: Mechanical - Skilled Occupations: Refuse Collectors". State of California, Employment Development Department. http://www.calmis.cahwnet.gov/file/occguide/GARBAGE.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-28.