Tonight we have another instalment of our series, “7 on the Inside.” Jacqueline Godwin takes us inside a day in the life of a job that we definitely take for granted. They are Belize’s street sweepers and they pick up the mess that we all leave behind. Jacqueline Godwin got down and dirty to find out what’s the hardest part about a day in their life.

Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
We’ve all seen them cleaning and bagging the city’s garbage but I’ve given a second thought to what it’s really like to clean someone else’s mess. Well for today I’ve decided to put down my microphone, pickup my wheelbarrow and really get on the inside of what it’s really like to be a sanitation worker.

Belize Maintenance Limited is responsible for cleaning the streets and bagging the city’s garbage. It’s a dirty job, but every day one hundred and sixty two employees get it done. Thirty six year old Janice Flores is one of the senior sanitation workers. I was privileged when i was assigned to work along with her on the city’s northside inside the Farmers Market.

I had no idea just how much filth can accumulate in just an overnight and I was amazed at the volume of garbage scattered all over the place.

Janice Flores, Sanitation Worker
“Noh care how you try talk to them it is like they don’t care at all and then we bag it up and when we come the next morning it is all loosed up; people looking for plastic bottles, glass bottles, the sprang head they looking for something to eat also.”

Janice Flores like the other women employed at BML are single mothers who work hard to make an honest living. They comprise 70% of the staff.

Jacqueline Godwin,
Janice I understand that you travel 31 miles everyday to come clean.

Janice Flores,
“Yes that’s true.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
How long you’ve been doing it?

Janice Flores,
“9 years.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
Any regrets?

Janice Flores,
“No regrets.”

It was a mess to clean and I lost count of just how many bags of garbage I had filled. I do know that BML goes through nine hundred garbage bags a day and as I found out people are not only throwing their garbage on the streets and drains

Jacqueline Godwin,
I would never imagine picking up garbage from the overpass.

Janice Flores,
“Yes ma’am all of that we’ve been through; it surprises us also.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
And what are some of the challenges because I mean you’re women, you’re out here cleaning, do you get the respect that I know you women deserve?

Janice Flores,
“Sometimes some people disrespect, sometimes they skin up their face.”

It is just one of many challenges. We had to remove plastic bags thrown carelessly among prickle branches. Signs of a city where it seems even civic pride has been discarded. And even worse than that – even human waste is thrown on the street.

Janice Flores,
“We make up we face, we think hard of pick it up but we have to pick it up because they say all of that is in the sanitation job.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
What you think people could do to make the job a little bit easier and healthier for you women?

Janice Flores,
“I think they should bag up their garbage also too and cooperate with us.”

As Janice and i bagged our garbage we were also being carefully monitored by our supervisor of the day.

Jacqueline Gentle, Supervisor – BML
“These women are really hard working women. They have problems just like everybody else and they come to work with smiling faces, you wouldn’t even know something went wrong unless ‘cause me as a supervisor, they talk to me if they are going through things at home or I would see something is wrong and I would ask them and they would tell me stuff that they are going through and they still work. They are not going to stop and stop, they are going to work through and they would really do a hard job; it is not easy.”

Joe Lawrence, Operations Manager – BML
“One of the things is the general public, they just tend to drop their plastic bags from biscuit or ideal, whatever it is, and they just throw it on the streets.”

BML’s Operations Manager Joe Lawrence told us that the company equips their workers with the necessary equipment to minimize the health risks but there is always room for improvement.

Joe Lawrence,
“Our job is mainly to bag the garbage and afterwards Belize Waste Control should come around to pick up the bags.”

But as I discovered it does not always work out that way.

Joe Lawrence,
“If everything works out smoothly we should have a clean city but the main problem right now is the bags not being picked up on time. We do our job, everyday we pick it up, we bag it.”

Janice gets up every morning at three thirty, does her household chores and then heads out to get to work for six a.m.

Jacqueline Godwin,
For eight hours you are out here cleaning, you feel like cleaning your house when you get home? You have time to do that?

Janice Flores,
“Sometimes, not all the times, but I make sure I don’t dirty the house.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
I know tonight when I go home I won’t clean my house.

Janice Flores,
“When I go home tonight I will pick in and fold up clothes.”

Joe Lawrence,
“Encourage the general public to treat our people with love and respect. These are hardworking honest people, doing a job that is important because a dirty city is no fun. If we don’t clean this city for a couple of days, you would see the difference right.”

So the next time you decide to carelessly throw your trash in the street, think about the hard work done daily by sanitation workers to help your city look clean. I did and after that, I can tell you that you won’t see me throwing anything in the streets. Jacqueline Godwin reporting for 7NEWS.

Join us in two weeks for another instalment of 7 on the Inside and feel free to send your suggestions to tvseven@btl.net.