Alex Skopic has written a really good article on why garbage collectors need to be treated as essential workers, and paid accordingly.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/all-power-to-the-garbage-workers

Two highlights:

“According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “refuse and recyclable material collector” is the fourth most deadly job in the United States today, behind only roofing, commercial hunting and fishing, and logging. Interestingly, “police officer” doesn’t crack the top 10 — so for all the “thin blue line” sloganeering, garbage workers are objectively braver and more deserving of praise than cops.”

and a really telling statement on capitalism

“Around the world, the situation for garbage workers reveals one of the core absurdities of capitalism. Namely, that there’s an inverse relationship between how important your work is, and how well you’ll be paid and treated. If you’re a farm worker who helps to keep the world fed, a garment worker who keeps everyone clothed, or a sanitation worker who keeps filth and disease from overrunning a major city, odds are you’ll get paid a pittance, and be stomped down by the police if you object. But if you’re an advertising executive, a hedge fund manager, or a peddler of crypto currency or sports gambling, and you contribute nothing of value to anyone’s life, you’ll probably be richly rewarded. The phrase “perverse incentive” doesn’t begin to cover it. Capitalism is a funhouse mirror world, where up is down, evil is good, corporations are people, and people are as disposable as anything else.”