Glorious garbage
<p>Trinity Lutheran Church Learning Center student William Cork, 4, pretends to drive a Waste Management truck Thursday in the parking lot of the church as part of the pre-school’s “community helpers week” which gives kids the opportunity to learn about different professions.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Fast forward 10 years and these kids will probably be complaining about taking out the trash, but for now they are huge fans.
The toddlers at TLC Learning Center love trash day.
From inside the fence at the preschool, they cheer every Thursday when the garbage truck squeezes through the tight alley, clanging, banging and compacting a week's worth of neighborhood trash.
Waste Management came to visit Thursday as part of the preschool's Community Helpers Week. A doctor, firefighter and police officer are also visiting TLC Learning Center this week.
As he pulled a garbage truck into the parking lot at Trinity Lutheran Church, driver Keith Lund was greeted by two dozen cheering tykes, jumping and waving their arms in the air.
"I love garbage trucks, I love garbage trucks," repeated a mesmerized toddler.
Lund sees plenty of happy kids along his regular routes throughout the week. Many wait in their windows for trash pickup.
"I enjoy seeing them smile," he said. "They're always smiling."
The children watched as Lund, using computer controls inside the cab of the garbage truck, lifted and emptied a curbside cart using an automated arm and then activated a compactor to smash down the trash.
According to Waste Management Director Steve Roberge, today's garbage trucks require more brain than brawn. A new truck costs from $200,000 to $300,000 and is outfitted with computers that do the heavy lifting.
From his office, Roberge can track his employees and see how many stops each truck is making. Typically, that's up to 120 stops per hour - fewer if the truck is collecting trash in narrow alleys.
Technology has turned a job that used to require great physical strength into one that relies more on technical knowledge.
"It opens the job up for a lot of different people," Roberge said.