Although many people wince at the thought of collecting garbage, the truth is that a career in waste management can be quite lucrative. Since this is an essential service that will be necessary for the foreseeable future, you’ll enjoy excellent job security once you break into the industry. The good news is that the waste management industry is a lot more varied than you may realize, meaning that there are plenty of great ways to get started down the road to success.
Electronics Recycling
Given the rate at which people dispose of electronics, the electronics recycling industry is absolutely vital. With a job at an electronics recycler, you may have responsibilities including data destruction, device deconstruction, materials sorting, and more. Given the high volumes of material that you’ll be working with, you’ll need to be a hard worker and be able to think on your feet. As you gain experience, you may be able to open your own electronics recycling facility to make even more money for yourself.
Equipment Sales
There is a lot of equipment required to haul and properly dispose of waste. Therefore, if you want an easy way to break into the industry, selling this equipment can provide a great point of entry. Garbage truck sales, for example, can give you experience in fleet sales and in the operation of garbage trucks, which can come in quite handy if you start a job in waste hauling. You may find, though, that selling garbage trucks is lucrative enough that you don’t want to look elsewhere.
Work at A Junkyard
To prevent overcrowding in dumps, most cars end their life in a junkyard until they can be stripped down and recycled. For someone interested in a long-term career in waste management, a junkyard can make a great place to gain experience. The best thing about working at a junkyard is that you’ll likely gain experience in operating the heavy machinery that’s required to move non-working cars around the yard. This will prepare you well for a future of driving garbage trucks or working at a landfill.
Become A Neighborhood Scrapper
If you want a job that’s easy to get into that you can do whenever you want, you can become self-employed with a job as a neighborhood scrapper. These individuals ride around their neighborhood and find scrap metal that people have set out by the curb. Then, they take that scrap metal to a local recycler to earn money for the metal they bring in. This freelance gig can give you great insight into waste management streams that can serve you well in a future career.
Stick with It
It’s important to understand that a career in waste management requires a lot of work. The good news, though, is that if you’re willing to put in that hard work, there are multiple opportunities for advancement within the industry so that you can continue to increase your earnings potential. The sooner you get started with one of the above jobs, the sooner you can begin advancing in your career.
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