Every day citizens of Minsk throw tons of garbage away: on the pavement and into special containers. We are going to spend one day with a person whose job is to keep the city clean.
Andrey starts his working day at 8 a.m. and finishes it at 8 p.m. For this time he manages to overcome 140-180 km along the city and unload garbage from 140 containers.
Sometimes drivers of garbage trucks have to start they way much earlier – at 6 a.m. to avoid traffic jams. But usually Andrey repairs his car in the morning. If it breaks he loses some profit. However if he helps to repair the car he gets 10% bonus.
We take the ZIL and start our way.
He works for three days and then is replaced by his partner who also works for three days on the same truck.
Before the departure he gets a list of places he has to go to during the day. Medical examination is also necessary in the morning.
The first destination: the containers stand too close to each other, so Andrey has to move them with his hands. The remaining work is much easier.
The entire route is tracked by GPS. While unloading the truck is weighed to be sure if it is full or not. Its capacity is 4-5 tons. All the garbage is pressed. of course. In general he has to visit 97 places and unload 140 containers.
Andrey tells that it’s quite difficult to work in the yards. Sometimes they are so narrow and many cars are parked in a wrong way. Sometimes Andrey even calls the police that comes in fifteen minutes to evacuate a car of an impolite driver.
It is quite cold outside but Andrey even does not zip up his jacket. In winter drivers receive warm clothes but Andrey says that he has to move all the time and he does not get cold.
Some containers are so old that they start dilapidating when lifted.
In such a case they immediately call the administration and ask to replace a bad container.
There is always much garbage at casinos, garages.
They have a truck that is specially used for picking bins for separate garbage collection. All garbage is to be recycled.
When the truck is full Andrey goes to the municipal solid waste landfill.
“Driver! Get your garbage inspected!”
Homeless people used to live here and even build little houses which were demolished by bulldozers soon.
Those people could get a nice profit here if they worked all day long. They collected the garbage which was accepted for recycling: metal, bottles, plastic, paper.
This hill is fully from garbage of Minsk citizens. Even in November it’s hard to breathe here, it’s better not even think about summer…
When the truck unloads the garbage some homeless people start searching for something valuable in it.
Sometimes the truck has to wait for about three hours for its turn. The roads are rather slippery, by the way. Once the truck almost fully sank in the garbage and was taken out only the next day. The smell was unbearable!
Andrey parks the truck, register in the control room, take a shower and can be finally free.
Location:Minsk, Belarus
via citydog.by
I prefer America.
That is one ragity fleet,come on and buy some of our new trucks…
im sure people care about that fact.
Rubbish looks the same in America
How can you say that? American garbage is the best, it smeels like roses and everything is sorted into special categories before by wonderful caring non-fat American people who like to save energy and do all their best for a good and wealthy nature.
Why he need medical examination to drive garbage truck?
In case he comes down with some disease.
he probably has to get tested for stuff like Hepatitis B/E, since he has to touch those nasty containers.
The landfill here is called Mt. Trashmore.
medical exam = breathalyzer to confirm sobriety.
‘..Andrey has to move them with his hands.’ Oh my, poor guy.
On the other hand, here they have to move all of them by hand, to the back of the truck, and back. But then again, we use plastic 650L containers, with wheels underneath.