A Day in the Life of the SAC Garbage Collector

Red Coke soda cups, plastic food containers and boxes shaped like a slice of pizza move slowly along the garbage conveyor belt.  Food is stuck between the belts and crumbs decorate the inside of the moving garbage collector.  This is a typical day for the SAC trash collector at meal times.  In the same repetitive circular motion it takes people’s food day in and day out to the dish washer in the back who collects the red lunch trays.  They work great as a team.

Most people place their trash and half eaten lunches, but the boy in the green shirt and Airwalk sneakers chucks his plastic container with crust still left in it, looks at his friends and laughs.  Maybe the lo mein noodle stuck to the inside of the belt got there the same way. 

A lonely white paper plate moves along the belt accompanied by a leaf of lettuce and slice of tomato.  I can only guess it was a burger and the person eating it opted for just the meat, bun and cheese. 

A sociology graduate student, 33-year-old Tyson Smith, had a turkey sandwich with harvest cheddar Sunchips.  He tells me not to worry about standing by the garbage belt, watching people and taking notes.  “I do this kind of stuff for sociology, too.  I have to do participant studies.”  As he walks away he says, “The food was so, so.  Is it still on my face?”  We laugh.

The conveyor belt works around in a stainless steel window.  Black and white colored tiles border the window and form the wall.  To the left of the belt are two red buckets with sanitizer solution and a white rag is next to them with mustard and ketchup stains.  Several workers have walked by – none of which have touched the rag. 

A napkin is left on the ledge of the window and a plastic fork lies next to the belt by its entrance into the kitchen.  A girl with long brown curly hair leaves her tray behind.  There is a knocked over Columbo yogurt and a plastic rectangular container with sauce streaks along the side.  Napkins dot the tray.  Everything you can imagine goes on this conveyor belt: apple juice bottles, one ounce condiment containers and Dasani water bottles.  But I would have to say the pizza box seems to frequent the conveyor belt most.  A water bottle is stuck on the inside and gets tickled by the belt as it passes by. 

There is a laminated sign above the stainless steel window, it says, “All Bottles & Cans placed on the belt will be recycled.”  As these leftover food containers, napkins and plastic silverware embark on their journey through the garbage cycle, I wonder to myself where they will end up next.