Sometimes, Bryan Chamblin likes to dress up what he does for a living. “I always joke that I am a refuse acquisition and transport specialist, but my wife always gets mad at me and says, ‘Tell ’em you’re a garbage man,” said Chamblin.

For this month’s installment of At Work With, we’re riding along with Bryan Chamblin to learn what it’s like to be a garbage man. He’s kind of an expert. “You figure 700 cans a day, times five days a week, times 52 weeks. That’s a lot of cans. And times 10 years,” said Chamblin.

That’s approximately 1.82 million cans Chamblin has picked up over the past decade of working as a trash collector.

What time do you have to wake up?

Bryan Chamblin’s day starts around 5:15 a.m. in the parking lot of Pride Disposal in Sherwood. On a February morning, the dense fog is only punctuated by the headlights of garbage trucks and the reflective yellow shirts worn by staff. Chamblin does pre-trip safety checks, inspecting the vehicle to make sure everything is safe and the camera and mechanical systems are working before he heads out.

The early start is part of the business — the earlier the heavy garbage trucks can get on the road, the less traffic they have to contend with. Chamblin wakes up at 4 a.m. to commute to Sherwood from his home in Salem. Residential pickups don’t start until 6 a.m. out of courtesy — the trucks are loud. Though he’s had people ask him to modify his route so they can sleep in, “That’s not the way this works,” he said.

What’s it like to be a hero to preschoolers?

“It’s one of my favorite parts of the job. The kids are always happy to see me, and I’ll honk and wave when I can,” Chamblin said. “And sometimes they’ll draw me pictures and tape ‘em to the garbage can.”

Do you ever get thank you gifts from customers?

Sometimes, customers will give him water when it’s hot outside. He does get treats, usually around Christmas or Thanksgiving.

What’s the hardest part about the job?

“Probably sitting all day,” said Chamblin. Also, driving a 50,000-pound vehicle around tight corners isn’t easy. “Cul-de-sacs are never fun with basketball hoops and things like that. They get in the way,” he said. Because Chamblin spends so much time driving the truck, he’s more comfortable in it than his own car. “My wife makes fun of me because I cannot parallel park, but you put a trailer on it, I’ll put it wherever you want.”

What kind of garbage truck are you driving?

Most of the time, Chamblin is driving a side-loader vehicle licensed to haul 58,000 pounds. “It drives like a Cadillac,” said Chamblin. This one runs on natural gas, and it’s loud. However, Pride Disposal has two electric garbage trucks on order, which are much quieter.

Side-loaders have a large mechanical arm that can be controlled from inside the cab to grab cans, haul them up over the side of the truck, and dump them into the “hopper” where trash goes. The steering wheel is on the right-hand side so Chamblin is able to easily hop out if he needs to get any garbage cans.

The truck is outfitted with several cameras — one looks straight into the trash hopper, and one monitors the side of the road and the grabber arm. They help facilitate the work — it’s easy to see if you’ve grabbed the can on the camera — but also to resolve customer complaints. “A lot of times it protects us. We’ve had customers say, ‘They hit my car!’ Then they pull the video. ‘Oh yeah. You were nowhere near it,’” Chamblin said.

How many fans do you have on your route?

There are some super fans who know the entire route. “They videotape us for Youtube,” said Chamblin. “They know more than me about the truck.”

One of those superfans, James, helped Chamblin out of a tight pinch when he started at Pride Disposal years ago. He was on a new route and didn’t know the area.

A kid on a scooter, about 9 or 10 years old, spotted Chamblin and said, “You’re new, do you know where you’re going?”

The child knew the route better than Chamblin. “I followed him, and he knew the route, and that’s how I got through that day. And that’s James, and he’ll be out following us. He drives [now]. We might see him today.”

Do you miss trash cans? What happens if you miss one?

“More often than we’d like,” Chamblin said. “I mean, we’re human. We miss ‘em. Sometimes they put ‘em in weird spots and we don’t see ‘em. Sometimes it just doesn’t get emptied all the way — something compacted it or something just gets stuck.”

Sometimes the customers don’t meet the 6 a.m. deadline, which is where the cameras come in handy — “They say, I put it out at 6:15. Yeah, well I was there at 6:10,” he said.

If a driver misses a can, another driver will be sent out later that day or the next day as a “go back.” Which can sometimes be a long drive for one can.

How do you decide the order you’ll pick up cans?

The routes are usually prepared by the back office, and then it’s up to the drivers to optimize. “Sometimes I’ll go to sleep at night, rerouting things in my head,” said Chamblin. “It’s never perfect, but my goal is to always be moving forward as much as possible, rather than turning around and backing up.”

The trucks at Pride Disposal are highly computerized — there’s a screen displaying each can that needs to be picked up in order and a section for notes. ”If you know how to run the truck and you’ve never run the route — if people have put the proper notes in and have sequenced it correctly and all that — you could run their route,” said Chamblin.

How are the smells?

The inside of Chamblin’s cab is quite clean and smells good — he does keep an air freshener on board. He said the most odiferous assignment is yard debris — especially when it’s peak growing season and it’s hot outside. “The food waste ones are usually pretty sloppy,” said Chamblin.

The cleanup is the worst part of the job for Bryan — hosing out the trash hopper after dumping into the “wet pit” at the end of the day can get messy. Brian’s grateful for a warm shower when he gets home around mid-afternoon.

What’s the worst weather conditions you’ve had to drive in?

“It’s scary hauling a 50,000-pound vehicle in the snow,” said Chamblin. Pride Disposal tries not to pick up when the driving conditions are dangerous, but occasionally, there is unexpected ice or snow during the route.

How do you pass the time while driving?

Any potential garbage truck driver needs to be okay being by themselves for 6 to 8 hours a day. “Podcasts help with that. And then you don’t feel like you’re alone,” said Chamblin,

His favorite podcasts? Anything! Though he likes true crime and car-related.

Do you feel you are well-compensated?

“We do okay. We’re never going to be Bill Gates, but we’re alright,” said Chamblin. His position is union, represented by the Teamsters. For starting drivers, the full union pay scale starts at $33.17 an hour and increases each year. They also get a pension and health benefits.

Do you like your job?

“It’s one of the few jobs that I’ve had that I don’t dread coming to work,” said Chamblin. “I like the people I work with. I like the work. I like to see the customers and talk to them. So it’s a good job.”

His youngest daughter is proud of his job, “Her teacher told me that she always says that my dad has the most important job because he keeps the world clean. And I’m like, okay, that about makes me tear up,” said Chamblin.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/21/at-work-with-a-garbage-collector-in-sherwood/