Recycling and Reclamation Workers
Also known as: Auto Dismantler, Bobcat Driver, Box Sorter (+21 more)
Prepare and sort materials or products for recycling. Identify and remove hazardous substances. Dismantle components of products such as appliances.
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What You'll Do
- Extract chemicals from discarded appliances, such as air conditioners or refrigerators, using specialized machinery, such as refrigerant recovery equipment.
- Sort materials, such as metals, glass, wood, paper or plastics, into appropriate containers for recycling.
- Collect recyclable materials from curbside for delivery to designated facilities.
- Deposit recoverable materials into chutes or place materials on conveyor belts.
- Operate automated refuse or manual recycling collection vehicles.
- Operate balers to compress recyclable materials into bundles or bales.
- Operate forklifts, pallet jacks, power lifts, or front-end loaders to load bales, bundles, or other heavy items onto trucks for shipping to smelters or other recycled materials processing facilities.
- Operate processing equipment, such as fiber-sorters and grinders, to sort, crush, or grind recyclable materials.
- Record logs of recycled materials or waste chemicals removed from products.
- Sort metals to separate high-grade metals, such as copper, brass, and aluminum, for recycling.
Essential Skills
Career Fit Overview
Use this summary to understand the kind of profile this role rewards. It helps you judge whether this career looks like a stronger match than your current role, a nearby move worth exploring, or a broader path to compare more seriously.
Top passions
- Maker: Building and fixing energizes you. You like tangible results and practical tools.
- Organizer: Bringing order to data and processes satisfies you.
- Analyst: Investigating problems and finding patterns keeps you engaged.
Want a personal read on fit? Take the free assessment and compare this career to your current role, nearby alternatives, and broader stronger-fit options.
Key Abilities
This career demands strong capabilities in the following areas:
Technologies & Tools
How to Become One
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience may be helpful but is usually not required. Training is often provided on the job.
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Also Known As
This career is known by many different job titles across industries. Here are all the variations:
Career Fit FAQs
Is this career a good fit for me
This page shows the role itself. To see personal fit, use the assessment to compare your interests, motivations, and strengths against this career and against the role you are in now.
Can this help if I want to stay in my field
Yes. Many people use career pages like this to compare nearby roles in the same field and see whether they need a full switch or a better-fit version of the work they already know.
What should I compare first
Start with the daily tasks, the preparation level, and the work-style signals on this page. Then use the assessment to see whether this role looks like a stronger fit than your current role or just a different title.
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