Take a moment; Think about garbage

If you are like me, garbage usually leaves your train of thought as soon as you place the offending object in those white plastic bags. Out of sight, out of mind.

But for John D. Arwood, second generation garbage man and CEO of Arwood Waste, trash collection is something never far from his mind.

June 17th, National Garbage Man Day

This June, John D. Arwood invites the nation to celebrate trash collectors, dumpster haulers, sewage workers, street cleaners and just about anyone who does the dirty jobs that we would rather not do ourselves. Arwood is raising awareness for our garbage men and women that make our cities and homes livable. “Garbage men are a sign of a healthy city,” said Arwood. Whether it’s the people who empty your fast food grease traps or deliver your port-a-potties, these are the people who make our lives smell better.

John D. Arwood found his enjoyment for recycling at a young age gathering aluminum cans around the neighborhood on his bicycle. Arwood grew up alongside his father in garbage collection and conservation. It has become a passion in the family. When asked about his family’s American Indian heritage, Arwood feels it plays a significant role in their decision to choose a pathway of conservation and honoring the environment by leaving a clean footprint.

Why are garbage men so essential to merit a national holiday?

Practically, if the waste management industry were to decide to take a day off, we would quickly revert back to medieval waste management practices. Tossing buckets of sewage off balconies or throwing household trash onto growing walls of garbage along our sidewalks, even possibly unleashing pigs in the streets to eat up our filth are only a few examples.

New York City truly thrived as a community only after the creation of the New York City Department of Street Cleaning in response to the littered streets and ineffectual garbage collection of the day. Previous to this time, garbage collection was handled by the police department.

Garbage collection is the highest expense for a city behind the Police and Fire Department. The Police and Fire Departments, because of their essential position in our society, also have a celebratory day to honor their work. It follows appropriately to honor the waste management workers as well.

Without the garbage men of our communities, many cities would be driven to a state of disorder, often worse than natural disasters. According to the Centers for Disease Control, historically the eradication of many diseases in the Western World is due, in large part, to higher public sanitation standards resulting from efficient garbage disposal.

Garbage overrun cities are not so far from us today. Natural disaster or poverty ridden areas, such as Haiti, struggle with efficient public sanitation daily. Streets lined with six foot mounds of trash and rivers with contaminated water breed diseases and often cause premature deaths.

Even in the wake of recent storm Hurricane Sandy, for many devastated communities sanitation and garbage disposal has become a major obstacle to the recovery. A reminder that within days, our waste can overrun us.