Monday was Waste and Recycling Workers Week and Rock River Environmental Services made a video to show you what it’s like to work as a waste hauler in Rockford.
This video follows Charlie Byrd, one of 65 Rock River Disposal employees who service the city of Rockford. Rock River Disposal is a subsidiary of Rock River Environmental Services. The company has 192 garbage men that collect from 160,000 homes each week.
Garbage men like Byrd can collect up to 40,000 pounds of trash per day, according to Rock River Environmental Services. That’s the equivalent of lifting 10 cars each day. Each hauler can collect up to 12,000 pounds of recyclables per day. And those numbers don’t account for yard waste.
A typical shift this time of year can easily last 10 hours as haulers are busy picking up grass, leaves and other yard waste, according to Rock River Environmental.