For sanitation workers, shade is a super luxury
Print Edition
LIU Yichun, a 50-year-old sanitation worker in Shanghai, starts work at 4:30am these days to avoid the fierce summer heat.
“Summer is the busiest time for us because the amount of watermelon rind, takeout food packaging and beverage bottles increases significantly,” said Liu, adding that cleaning up other people’s messes can be sticky work, especially the ice-cream wrappers.
Liu, who is from Anhui Province, has been working as a sanitation worker in Shanghai for nearly 20 years and is one of about 50,000 workers tasked with cleaning the streets.
He works for the Zhahuan Beizhan Environment and Sanitation Project Co Ltd and has been handling enough garbage to fill about eight tricycles every day around Hengfeng Road and Guangfu Road.
Watermelon rinds from residential complexes and lunch boxes discarded by local workers and taxi drivers are the most commonly seen garbage in the summer, he said.
“Greasy rubbish produced by eateries, fruit juice from street vendors and plastic bags of garbage thrown out of windows at residential complexes are the worst things we deal with in the summer time,” he said as he wiped sweat from his brow.
Liu’s brother-in-law, 43-year-old Zheng Weishun, is also part of the crew. Liu’s wife is a retired sanitation worker.
Under the scorching sun, Liu and Zheng’s uniforms are soaking wet in the back.
They get up at 4am, and work between 4:30am and 6am. After breakfast, they continue working from 7am to 11am, and then have three hours of rest to avoid the fierce midday heat.
“Some residents still carelessly dump garbage on the ground,” said Zheng.
“When we park our garbage tricycles in a place, they do not throw garbage into them.”
To make the lives of sanitation workers a little easier, the city has designated 1,032 places where they can take breaks and eat meals, thanks to campaign launched last year by the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau calling on companies and public facilities to provide staff rooms for breaks and free water.
In the past, many sanitation workers had to rest on roadsides because their designated break place was too far from where they were working, and they had no access to water or a hot meal, the bureau said.
The new break places, which are called “love relay stations” and are identifiable by their eye-catching red logo, provide a shelter for sanitation workers from the heat in summer and the cold in winter.
The sites include 443 bus terminals, 250 gas stations, 169 KFC outlets and 80 branches of the Industrial Bank. Most of them have air-conditioning and many provide free drinking water and are equipped with a refrigerator and microwave.
Liu and Zheng often visit the Zhabei sub-branch of Industrial Bank to take breaks because it is close to their working area.
“In the past, sanitation workers were not welcomed by most shops and restaurants because we did not spend money there and we were often driven out because we looked really dirty and sweaty,” Zheng said, adding that he needed to bring two large containers of water with him every day in the summer.
“But now there is more respect for our job, and more people treat us well, which makes me feel good,” he said.
Liu said he stays in his job because he has grown to love it over the years.
“Sanitation workers have a low social status, but it gives me a sense of belonging and there seems to be a bond between me and the job,” he said.
“It is like my home is not clean when I see garbage on the streets, and it is my duty to clean them,” he added.
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