(Logging, the most dangerous profession, averages nearly 60 deaths per 100,000.) Small wonder: Every aspect of a trash collector's job has the capacity to injure. Trash collecting routinely shows up on lists of the most dangerous jobs in America, with roughly 30 fatalities per 100,000 workers annually. These are not jobs for the faint-hearted. Says Baltimore garbage woman Kristen Anderson, "If you could see these grown men going crazy when things get gross…" 3. And I don’t have to worry about the garbage can talking back to me." And while female collectors may not match their male counterparts when it comes to strength in numbers, they often have a stronger stomach. "I wear it like a badge of honor," says veteran Memphis collector Kim Hardeman. And all the garbage women we interviewed say they encounter real surprise when they share their vocational choice. garbage collectors are men, but that still means that more than 1,000 women are out there hauling trash. I’m the guy driving the big green truck." Trash collector, trash hauler and, across the pond, “bin men” are also acceptable. “Just call me the garbage man," he implores. Veteran "engineer" Scott Fultz, of Portland, Oregon, speaks for most of his peers when he says that the classic moniker is still the best. Politically correct terms are "sanitation engineer" and “waste management professional,” but if you ask the men and women who actually do the work there’s nothing to be ashamed of in a description that’s less euphemistic. To help clear the mystery surrounding the only people who-unlike mom-will keep cleaning up after you for the rest of your life, we interviewed dozens of garbage collectors around the country about their work, motivation, and, yes, that smell. Well, let ignorance go the way of open-air incinerators. or when stuck behind a truck on our way to Costco. Maybe that's because we only think of them when running to the curb in our undies at 6 a.m. And yet, these intrepid men and women are shrouded in mystery. There are more than 116,000 garbage collectors in the United States, which sounds like a lot until you consider the staggering volume of trash Americans toss out every year: 250 million tons (and growing).
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