How to become Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector in 2024

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector Collect and dump refuse or recyclable materials from containers into truck. May drive truck.

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector is Also Know as

In different settings, Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector is titled as

  • Front Load Trash Truck Driver
  • Garbage Man
  • Recycle Driver
  • Refuse Collector
  • Roll Off Container Truck Driver
  • Roll Off Truck Driver
  • Sanitation Laborer
  • Swamper
  • Trash Collector
  • Truck Driver

Education and Training of Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

Training Required for Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector in different industries are

What Do Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector do?

  • Inspect trucks prior to beginning routes to ensure safe operating condition.
  • Refuel trucks or add other fluids, such as oil or brake fluid.
  • Fill out defective equipment reports.
  • Drive trucks, following established routes, through residential streets or alleys or through business or industrial areas.
  • Operate equipment that compresses collected refuse.
  • Operate automated or semi-automated hoisting devices that raise refuse bins and dump contents into openings in truck bodies.
  • Dismount garbage trucks to collect garbage and remount trucks to ride to the next collection point.
  • Communicate with dispatchers concerning delays, unsafe sites, accidents, equipment breakdowns, or other maintenance problems.
  • Check road or weather conditions to determine how routes will be affected.
  • Tag garbage or recycling containers to inform customers of problems, such as excess garbage or inclusion of items that are not permitted.
  • Clean trucks or compactor bodies after routes have been completed.
  • Sort items set out for recycling and throw materials into designated truck compartments.
  • Organize schedules for refuse collection.
  • Provide quotes for refuse collection contracts.
  • Make special pickups of recyclable materials, such as food scraps, used oil, discarded computers, or other electronic items.
  • Dump refuse or recyclable materials at disposal sites.

Qualities of Good Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

  • Aluminum compactors
  • Cardboard compactors
  • Desktop computers
  • Front loading garbage trucks
  • Garbage trucks
  • Grapple trucks
  • Lifting arms
  • Mobile radios
  • Personal computers
  • Pneumatic collection garbage trucks
  • Rear-loading garbage trucks
  • Recycling trucks
  • Shredder trucks
  • Side-loading garbage trucks
  • Tractor-trailer trucks
  • Walking floor trailers

Technology Skills required for Refuse and Recyclable Material Collector

  • AMCS Platform
  • Computerized maintenance management system CMMS
  • Dossier software
  • Fleet management software
  • Global positioning system GPS software
  • Mileage logging software
  • Payroll software
  • Routeware software
  • Squeegee
  • WAM software