Task statements

  • Inspect trucks prior to beginning routes to ensure safe operating condition.
  • Drive trucks, following established routes, through residential streets or alleys or through business or industrial areas.
  • Refuel trucks or add other fluids, such as oil or brake fluid.
  • Dump refuse or recyclable materials at disposal sites.
  • Fill out defective equipment reports.
  • 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.
  • Operate equipment that compresses collected refuse.
  • 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.
  • Clean trucks or compactor bodies after routes have been completed.
  • Tag garbage or recycling containers to inform customers of problems, such as excess garbage or inclusion of items that are not permitted.
  • Make special pickups of recyclable materials, such as food scraps, used oil, discarded computers, or other electronic items.
  • Organize schedules for refuse collection.

Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.