He Does The Heavy Lifting With a Smile

For the past 25 years, Department of Sanitation worker Charles Beaulieu has removed between 12 and 15 tons of garbage per day from New York City streets five days a week. All that heavy lifting is why Department of Sanitation workers are known as New York City’s Strongest. In his current route, Beaulieu covers District 9 of Manhattan, which includes Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville, Morningside Heights and West Harlem.

Beaulieu began his career with the Department of Sanitation the week after the September 11 terrorist attack. Working in Lower Manhattan, he saw the destruction and debris to which the Twin Towers had been reduced.

Working for the Department of Sanitation is “one of the most dangerous jobs in the city,” Beaulieu said. When people dispose of their garbage improperly, sanitation workers could get cut or burned. “A few trucks have caught on fire,” Beaulieu said, “because of the batteries from e-bikes.”

When trash bags are too heavy, sanitation workers could get injured. Beaulieu tore his rotator cuff on the job and it required surgery. Rats scurry out of garbage bags and raccoons scamper out of garbage bins. Despite all this, there are many benefits to working at the Department of Sanitation. It’s one of the few remaining jobs where you can retire after 20 years with a pension

Over the past year, a major change has come to the Department of Sanitation: District 9 is spearheading a containerization program that will eventually expand to all of the boroughs. Residential trash is disposed of in containers, instead of sitting in trash bags on the street. The containers reduce the rat population and illegal dumping. Since the containers are lifted by a machine, they reduce worker injury as well as reducing workers’ exposure to noxious smells and fluids.

Beaulieu has been instrumental in the program’s implementation.

“People might be angry because it’s taking up a little bit of parking,” Beaulieu said, “but the end result is way better. They’ll survive the no parking for no rats. It’s a very good trade-off.”

One thing that people don’t realize about working for the Department of Sanitation is how fun the work is. “You can make picking up garbage fun by challenging your partner,” Beaulieu explained “...seeing who can put the most bags in at a stop...seeing who can get to the back of the truck first, who can get the first bag in the truck, who’s going to pick up the last bag.”

The comradery and fun he has with his fellow sanitation workers is one of Beaulieu’s favorite things about the job. He also loves helping people, which is why he became a Shop Steward with Teamsters Union Local 831 union.

“Another thing that’s fun as we’re working: seeing the kids stop and look at the truck,” Beaulieu said. He loves to let them watch the truck crumble large items, such as furniture. “If there’s a dresser, I’ll put the dresser in there and let the truck crush it so that the kids could see it — and the smile on their faces is amazing.”

He always looks forward to interacting with the neighborhood children along his route.

“I always like to tell them: ‘You see me picking up all this stuff? We’re strong. Eat your vegetables... If you want to be strong, eat your veggies,’” he said. “The parents, they do say ‘Thank you.’”