Bob Koerlin: one of Rapid City’s garbage truck drivers

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The Rapid City landfill collects 500 tons of trash daily, equivalent to about 100 full-grown elephants.

Bob Koerlin is one of the people bringing that trash to the landfill, spending most of his day in the cab of a garbage truck. He started as a garbage truck driver seven years ago.

“About 700-900 cans a day. Then, we got a new system called 3rd Eye. If the can isn’t out, then we take a picture and time stamp it. The picture shows that the can isn’t out, so people can’t say we missed them,” shares Koerlin.

As we creep up on a wind-knocked can, Koerlin points out the garbage lying on the ground, blowing around, remarking, “That’s what you get when people don’t bag.”

Koerlin says when he started, he earned $15.50 an hour. Now, a new employee could start at $24 an hour. This blue-collar job requires a CDL, making it a hard-to-fill position.

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