"Hard to Even Touch" Over 48°C... A 3.5-Ton Truck 'Full'

[Anchor]

Despite the scorching heat wave, sanitation workers are waging a desperate battle under the blazing sun to ensure pleasant daily lives for citizens. They need to take brief breaks in between exhausting tasks to cool off, but the reality makes it difficult.

Reporter Hong Seung-yeon accompanied them on their garbage collection rounds.

[Reporter]

Sanitation workers load garbage piled up along the street into a truck.

Even before 9:00 AM, the temperature has already soared to 35°C (95°F).

Walking through alleys to collect trash quickly soaks their entire bodies in sweat.

[Yoo Min-oh / Sanitation Worker, Sejong City: These days, the sun comes up from dawn, so it's a continuous battle against the heat from then on.]

As I walk through various alleys for about 30 minutes and help move recycling waste with them right now,

it is so hot that sweat is pouring from my entire body like rain.

Moving bulky waste is even more grueling.

[One, two, three! Watch your legs!]

Discarded furniture baked under the sunlight all day is hard to even touch.

The surface temperature well exceeds 48°C (118°F).

[Jung Nam-gu / Sanitation Worker, Sejong City: This year is even hotter than last year... We bring ice water when we set out, but it melts quickly, even inside the truck.]

Because of sharp waste and the risk of falling objects, they are supposed to wear helmets, safety shoes, and even safety goggles, but the sweat makes even that difficult.

[Cho Heon-gwang / Sanitation Worker, Sejong City: We sweat so much that we have to keep taking them off and wiping them, so not many people actually wear them.]

With trash continuously pouring in, they can neither stop nor postpone the work.

This collection truck started picking up waste at 7:30 AM.

In just an hour and a half, a 3.5-ton truck is completely full.

[Lee Jong-seob / Sanitation Worker, Sejong City: We can't put it off. Odors and bugs develop right away, so it (has to be) processed on the same day.]

There is no proper space to rest in between the grueling work.

While rest areas are provided, the nature of the job requiring constant movement across assigned zones makes them hard to access.

Finding any visible shade to briefly cool off is all they can do.

[Kim Gu-young / Sanitation Worker, Sejong City: (Usually) there are small resting places nearby. Because we keep moving around, not having a resting place is quite difficult.]

To protect the pleasant daily lives of citizens, sanitation workers are quietly continuing their work today in the middle of the burning streets.

(Camera Reporter: Kim Min-chul)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.