Skills
Select one or more knowledge areas or skills to find related occupations.
0 skills selected
Overview
The work includes collecting domestic or industrial waste, emptying bins, sorting material, helping unload vehicles and recording the amount or type of waste collected.
In job descriptions, look for waste sorting, collection rounds, hazardous or non-hazardous waste, personal protective equipment, recycling records, public-space damage and maintenance of collection equipment.
Explore this occupation
Search jobsWhat the work can involve
Refuse collection is route-based physical work with public-space, residential or site waste. The role can involve loading bins, helping the vehicle crew, separating materials and recording collected waste before treatment or disposal.
Skills and specializations
Useful depth includes waste sorting, safe handling of hazardous and non-hazardous material, use of protective equipment, recycling records and care of collection equipment. Some posts focus on household rounds; others include industrial sites, recycling stations or pollution incident reporting.
Salary context
Pay context depends on route responsibility, vehicle crew duties, shift times, waste type, exposure to hazardous material, record keeping and whether the role includes equipment maintenance or public-site monitoring.
Career paths
Development can move toward senior collection crew member, recycling-site operative, waste-transfer work, route coordination, environmental services supervision or specialist handling of hazardous waste.
Good to know
Check whether adverts name the waste stream, collection vehicle, route pattern, lifting equipment, protective gear, record systems, recycling duties and expectations for dealing with damaged bins or public-space problems.
Editorial note
This guide is editorial career context, not official labour-market statistics or role-specific pay data.
Map overview
Click the map to search for refuse collector jobs.
— Jobs total — Countries with jobs
O*NET relationships
See occupations connected to this ESCO occupation in the official O*NET–ESCO mapping. The relationship type comes from the source and is not a ranking or recommendation.
O*NET relationships: 2
Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
53-7081.00
Exact relationship
The official mapping treats the O*NET and ESCO occupations as closely equivalent.
Open in O*NETRecycling and Reclamation Workers
53-7062.04
Close relationship
The occupations are closely related, but the official mapping does not treat them as exact equivalents.
Open in O*NETSource and method
These relationships come from the official European Commission O*NET–ESCO crosswalk.
Relationship direction: O*NET occupation to ESCO occupation.
Several O*NET occupations can point to the same ESCO occupation, and one O*NET occupation can point to several ESCO occupations.
AltoTrail preserves the source relationship type. The order is technical and does not show which occupation is best, most relevant or recommended.
AltoTrail validates and presents the source relationships without adding ranking or recommendation semantics.
NACE Rev. 2.1
Economic activities linked to this occupation.
38.1Waste collection
Alternative labels
binman
waste collector
office waste collector
household waste collector
recycling operator
kerbside collector
household refuse collector
commercial waste collector
industrial waste collector
refuse collection worker
domestic refuse collector
refuse sorter
hazardous waste collector
refuse collection operative
demolition site refuse collection worker
dustman
garbage and recycling collector
domestic waste collector
dustbin man
Occupation group
Garbage and recycling collectors (9611)
Source facts
| ESCO URI | http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/e54683ca-1fc9-468d-b880-6544ff6b7d0b |
|---|---|
| ESCO code | 9611.1 |
| ISCO group | 9611 |
| Concept type | Occupation |