Los Angeles -- Commercial (WM)

Описание: Waste Management services the City of Los Angeles with four different hauling companies. The West Valley region is serviced by the Sun Valley yard, and with all the different old garbage trucks they run, Kevin and I have made four trips out to the area to find some of their equipment in action.

(0:00) - 209571 & 632027: On a nice cloudy Saturday on October 29, we headed out to the West Valley to find truck 203025 in action. As we went down Ventura Boulevard, we found this scout and front loader team collecting a huge apartment complex in Woodland Hills. We knew the scout driver, Javier, from a previous trip, and he usually teams up with Ruben, the driver of 203025 during the week. He called Ruben for us and gave us the address of where to meet him, which was awesome. Also, this truck originally came from Baldwin Park, so that was cool to finally see one in action. Very nice driver behind the wheel, Jose, who just started with WM a few months ago.

(0:40) - 203025: Here is the number one truck I've been trying to find for over a year, a 1998 Volvo WX64 Wittke FEL. Back on October 7, we made a trip to Van Nuys to try and find this truck, and luckily, we not only found it, but the driver, Ruben Reyes, was awesome! He only had three stops left the last time we found him, so on October 29, I got route info and we were able to find him again thanks to the help of dispatch as well as Javier. Obviously, this truck is ex-WMX, and because of all the burgundy bleeding through the cab, I really wanted to find it quickly since Sun Valley has been replacing these over the past year. Ruben operates the truck at a great speed so I really enjoyed filming him, and luckily, traffic in Los Angeles on a Saturday morning is way lighter than when we last went on a weekday. Ruben let us follow him the rest of his route, so that sure was fun. Some history on the truck - it arrived in Sun Valley in June 1998, originally with a McNeilus Century body.

(10:11) - 263026: Last time we were at Sun Valley Hauling, we met this guy, Arturo "Art" Rivera, who was super funny and very cool. Today, thanks to the help of some awesome people at Waste Management, we tracked down Art on his last three stops of the day in Granada Village. We got to talk with him for a bit afterwards - really funny guy who has some great stories from over the years! He's been at Waste Management for 11 years, and previously, worked for Athens Services - Salt Lake, Consolidated Disposal, and Las Virgines Disposal prior to that. His truck is awesome - I love these Volvo WXLL Wittkes having grown up with a few. This is one of four that Sun Valley received from Orange County last summer.

(13:10) - 207757 & 607415: On our first trip out here in June, we were given an address in Winnetka on where to possibly find the Mack MR Hardox before car problems arose. En route to a Volvo WXLL route in Woodland Hills on October 10, we passed through Winnetka again and ironically, found Bernardo and Trini around the corner from the stop where the Hardox was supposed to be. The Mack is a spare for Bernardo, who usually has an Autocar.

(15:21) - 203025 & 632027: Here is more of Ruben and Javier from our first time meeting them in Van Nuys.

I would like to give a huge thank you to all of the Waste Management employees who made this video possible. First, every single driver we met for being super friendly, letting us film (and follow), and giving us route information to find their fellow co-workers. I would also like to thank the route supervisors and dispatch for providing us with tons of route information and locations of drivers. As many of you know, filming commercial garbage collection in Los Angeles is near impossible, and finding a specific truck requires a ton of planning and help, and would not be possible without the help of all these people.

Thanks for watching!