From the curb, to the landfill and to the recycling center. Every day a team of unsung heroes picks up your trash and recycling and disposes of it.
The city of Fort Myers Solid Waste Division says its a lot harder than it looks.
Chances are when you're rolling out of bed, these guys are rolling out. Just before dawn, a few safety checks, and they're off.
Bob Sonderschafer does the job few want to do, but for 20 years, he's happily kept Fort Myers trash and recycling off your curb.
"If you don't like what you're doing, you might also just go find something else," said Bob Sonderschafer, an operator.
Like any job, it's not all roses.
"The cans have to be spread out so we can get the arms in there to pick the can up, if they're too close, we knock the other can over. Then we had to pick up the mess that we make," Sonderschafer said.
While cleanliness is the name of the game, speed is a must.
"We pick recycling up today first thing and then we go dump, and then we pick up the garbage," he said.
Recently, the city of Fort Myers Solid Waste changed its workflow, saving time and money. Instead of collecting trash and recycling at the same time, they developed a new plan to collect recycling first.
"Metals, plastics, paper, cardboard, glass, all these things go in that are clean, so if you have like food stuff, they need to be rinsed out first, then put it into the recycle can and then it's dumped, and we take it to the, the MURF "materials recovery facility," said Douglas Gordan, city of Fort Myers Solid Waste supervisor.
With automatic trucks and one-man crews, it's not the back-breaking work it once was.
"They don't understand the things we deal with," Gordan said.
In the past, Gordan says he'd have crews working until 8 p.m.; now, quitting time is 5 p.m.
"I mean, the trucks run, they know their routes, when they're done, they go to another out and help out we get it all picked up at the same time, All the trucks come in at the same time, they leave at the same time," Gordan told Gulf Coast News.
Getting it here and in the right place requires some assistance from you.
"Separate it for us so we can, you know, haul it away without any issues and dump it and, move on to the next day," Gordan said.
Rinsing out recyclables and making sure your bin isn't contaminated will keep these rarely recognized unsung heroes happy.