Among Preble County’s essential workers, who still have to report to work despite closures prompted by the threat of Covid-19, is trash collector Eddie Lang. Lang has been driving a garbage truck in Eaton five days a week for the last four years, and said that working for Cincinnati-based Rumpke Waste and Recycling is not quite like any other job he’s had.
“The best part about the job for me is the bosses,” Lang said. “I’ve never had a job where I wasn’t just a number, and I’ve never had a boss like Steve Rumpke before. I see him at work every day, and he knows everybody by name. It’s more like a family environment than just clocking in and clocking out.”
Rumpke trained him to get his Class B Commercial Driver’s License, according to Lang. Lang also enjoys the flexibility the job gives him to work at his own pace and set his own hours. “You get paid for eight hours no matter what,” Lang said. “So you can run your butt off and get it done in five, or you can take your time.”
Lang, who lives in Union City, said he typically arrives for work at about a quarter after four in the morning, sets out in his truck at about five, and starts picking up trash on his route at around 6 a.m. Lang’s route includes about 500 stops around Eaton each day.
“And every day is pretty much bulk, so whatever people set out, we pick it up,” Lang said, specifying that large items like mattresses, box springs and other furniture should be wrapped in plastic before being dragged out to the curb.
The job has its unpleasant aspects, according to Lang, including coming in contact with unsavory smells. “Sometimes you go through areas where you’d think people have been scooping stuff out of the sewer mains,” Lang said. “And I’ve picked up couches where you can still smell the cat pee even through the plastic.”
Reckless drivers are also a frequent issue, according to Lang, and can pose a real life-and-death danger to trash collectors working near their trucks in the early-morning hours.