Every day, crews from Montgomery County's recycling collection contractors are out in neighborhoods, emptying blue bins and paper carts.
The paper, books, and cardboard in a full paper recycling cart can create heavy loads for our collectors.
Last week, we caught up with Edison Cargeo and his crew member Jose Valdes. Edison is a driver for Unity Disposal, LLC, one of the three recycling collection contractors for Montgomery County Government. Other collection contractors include Ecology Services, Inc., and Potomac Disposal, Inc.
They were collecting cans, bottles, jars, containers, and paper with lightning speed.
Edison paused for a moment to demonstrate how his split body rear loader truck safely lifts the heavy paper carts. Edison told me that he and Jose serve about 300 to 400 houses per day depending on the route – so, it’s important that the trucks can give them a lift with all those carts! Before trucks were equipped with mechanical lifts, many injuries occurred when workers shouldered heavy recycling containers and manually tipped their contents into truck hoppers.
What can you do to help keep our collection crews like Edison and Jose safe? Edison shared some ideas...
When the weather is bad, he urges us to park in our driveways, and not on the streets. That allows him to maneuver his truck more easily, and to avoid collisions with parked cars.
Read more details about the do's and don'ts of paper recycling in Montgomery County.
-- Submitted by Jessica Fusillo, Collections Communications
Nice to see the guys in the field, getting some recognition. They are a hard working bunch.
ReplyDeleteThanks! We have more stories, videos, and photos coming! Glad you enjoyed this one.
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