In Montreal, you won’t see fancy modern garbage trucks handling your nasty bins with a robotic arm, like back home. Here, it’s old school garbagemen who run behind the truck for miles on end, chucking literal tons of waste into a loud grinding hopper every week, in every season.
I’ve written before about how amazing and athletic these guys are, but now you can read about the life of a vidangeur straight from the garbo’s mouth.
Simon Paré-Poupart has written about his garbage life in Ordures! Journal d’un vidangeur (also available in English as Trash! A Garbageman’s Story). It’s available on Libby for those who don’t want to contribute to the consumption cycle that he discusses in his book.
Paré-Poupart is a Québecois who got started in the waste-management trade to prove to his alcoholic father he wasn’t a nerd (though he was). It’s a quick read full of stories about his garbage-collecting colleagues, reflections on how capitalism creates an endless cycle of consumption and waste, and how social class plays into the treatment of and misconceptions about garbage collectors (the author put himself through school with his earnings, earning a master’s degree).
It’s an intriguing and thoughtful glimpse into our society and its hypocrisy and failure where trash is concerned. I’m already an admirer of the toughness and diligence of our local vidangeurs, but now I appreciate them even more.
You will soon be able to see Montreal garbagemen on TV ! Cats in the Plateau, a new series by Jared Keeso of Letterkenny and Shoresy fame, will dig into the lives of two garbagemen who decide to socially advance by starting a gang. Keeso may have been inspired in part by Paré-Poupart’s book, though doubtless Keeso’s version will have more scintillating if excessively vulgar dialogue (as is his wont.) Enjoy!