My firm rents trash compactors to various types of businesses. A number of our units are rented to grocery stores. These units, which are hauled by large 10 wheel trucks, need to be cleaned internally every few years. Part of this cleaning process requires us to clean years worth of grocery store waste from behind and underneath the compaction ram. We have found all types of old food, both in almost original form and almost completely composted into a raw smelly muck. Imagine your the smell from your home trash container, now imagine it 50 times worse, then image you have to get in the container to clean it! We have to dig this material out with our hands, picks, shovels, hand tools, and power washers. It takes about 3 hours to clean each unit. We have to wear coveralls, face shields, rubber and leather gloves, and boots. On a hot summer day you can not believe the smell. I have seen some pretty strong people take one smell of the degrading garbage then turn their head and puke. This cleaning is necessary in order to prevent the unit from leaking garbage juice as well as causing mechanical problems.
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Hey wasteguy, I can feel your pain....I used to work in a grocery store for 8 years until I graduated college. Just opening the trash compactor door was enough to make me want to vomit. Going around back to see the leakage was like a toxic waste dump....especially the maggots living in it! Also night crew would tell me stories of them seeing mice and rats in the meat department at night because of what they throw down the sewers. by the way, this was a new grocery store that was just built. If something was accidentially thrown in the trash compactor, we would have to "fish" it out with sticks or brooms because no one wanted to climb in there, since it would ruin your clothes and you would smell bad the rest of the day if you touched something that was rotten in the compactor. I always had a fun time watching it smash the heck out of anything you put in there! And yes, you're right...on a hot day it was unbearable! Take care, and keep a gas mask nearby! -Bruce
