Keeping New York’s Streets Clean: the Importance of Sanitation Workers

In a city as vast and populated as New York, waste management and disposal is of the utmost importance. NYC has been said to be one of the filthiest cities in the world, and the task of keeping the streets clean and safe falls on no other than the city’s sanitation department.

How do sanitation workers contribute to the city’s cleanliness? Let’s take a look.

They Keep the City Running

Unlike most individuals living in New York, sanitation workers don’t typically get to sleep in late or start their mornings at 9 am. Their shift begins much earlier, usually at 6 am. This means that many of them get up at as early as 3 am in the morning to get dressed and arrive at the New York City Department of Sanitation on time.

When the city sleeps, sanitation workers are up and about, picking up trash from residential and commercial sites. As the residents of NYC get ready to start their day, they’ve already been hard at work for a couple of hours, ensuring that the streets are clean and hygienic before they become crowded by New Yorkers bustling about.

They Protect Public Health

Not many among us would voluntarily pick up trash from all across the city or climb down the sewers to remove garbage. Sanitation workers have what most consider being a dirty job; one that you wouldn’t want to do yourself. And yet, it’s a job that needs to be done. If they refuse to collect and properly dispose of the garbage from various parts of New York, public health would be at great risk.

Human beings need a clean environment to function and prevent the spread of diseases, and sanitation workers play a huge role in ensuring we live under hygienic conditions. Despite their crucial role in protecting public health and preventing environmental hazards, the contributions of sanitation workers often go unrecognized and underappreciated.

They’re at the Frontlines

On “normal” days, i.e. when the city hasn’t been struck with a crisis or a disaster, sanitation workers perform some of the most demanding, dangerous, and equally essential tasks. Over 11,000 tons of household trash is generated each day in NYC, and it falls upon the city’s sanitation workers to collect and dispose of these.

With the outbreak of the coronavirus, sanitation workers are directly at the frontlines, ensuring that they remove household trash using the correct strategies to prevent the spread of disease via garbage. The amount of residential waste generated has already increased during the pandemic, and sanitation workers have become part of the frontline force who continue to persist at their jobs in order to keep the inhabitants of the city safe from the disease.

Do you wish to be part of the sanitation industry? Civil Service Success offers prep classes for civil services, helping aspiring candidates prepare for the NYC Sanitation Exam.

For more information about their online classes for NYC civil service exams, call at 631-218-0889.