Garbagemen in Ciudad Juárez

Daniel Tonche manually disposes people’s garbage into a truck that goes around the southern area of Ciudad Juárez.

Las Cruces Sun-News photographer Robin Zielinsky assigned us to do a feature.

I didn’t know what to do it about at first. I was driving in Ciudad Juárez and all of the sudden I saw these guys. I stepped out of the car, grabbed my camera, and began to photograph them. In Juárez everyone has their own barrel container for trash. On a specific days of the week, garbagemen along with a truck go around the streets. These people physically grab the containers and pour all the trash into the truck. It’s a fast-paced job. They’re constantly running and disposing. They are smelly. They have to do all that under the Sun. I followed them for about two hours and by the end I was exhausted. They work hard. These photos are just a glimpse of the job they do.