Personality Profile: From refuse

From refuse collector to superintendent:

Jimmy Smith Jr. manages Thomasville, Ga., Solid Waste Department with passion

By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal

Jimmy Smith Jr. makes you feel you’ve always known him, and all it takes is a few minutes of conversation.

As the solid waste and landfill superintendent of Thomasville, Ga. — and having worked for the city since 1995— what Jimmy doesn’t know about the business likely isn’t worth knowing.

“I was a young country boy who started at the bottom — a refuse collector, working on the trucks, all that, for a couple of months. And how things have changed! Back then, the trucks didn’t have air brakes, but hydraulic. I went into it thinking I’d do this for a couple of months. Showed my supervisor! Through the years, I worked up from crew leader to team leader to foreman and, eventually, this position,” said Smith.

Smith shared he didn’t really see the need for college and went right to work as soon as he’d graduated. But in 2016, while celebrating his niece’s birthday party, his mom answered the phone, dropped it and left the room.

“Dad went to see what the problem was and came back and told us: Mom had cancer. So I was thinking, what can I do for her? What would be something that would really make her feel good in spite of all this? And it was pretty simple. She’d always wanted us to go on to school, and so I did. Back to school for my mom. That was some form of relief I could give her. I graduated with an Academy Profession degree in business management. I enjoyed it! I earned a Student of the Year, Advocate of the Year and went to talk at other schools. It wasn’t the same as being a valedictorian, but it was pretty good. I mostly went for mom. I vowed to finish after she passed, because she would want that. So I got a degree in environmental management. I met Governor Kemp in Atlanta, as one of the G.O.A.L. (Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership) students. Seems like I just kept moving and climbing.”

Smith is amazed at how much has changed during the years of his employment with the city.

“A lot has changed — the workforce in general, when you came in, you came in to work. Technology advancements, print and file lasers, analog — you can put the truck in drive just by pushing a button now. Emails, acronyms —I didn’t know what they were at first — getting used to text speak, I learned. Older generation here, and those are different communications. And the way we dress. Used to be shirts and ties, now it’s casual pants and tennis shoes, and oh, I guess that’s how it is now! It seems to be harder for some of the younger workers to put in the work at the bottom; they want to start right out at supervisor level. But you got to put in the groundwork first, learn your way up to that. And when I started, it was something like paid $4 an hour, something like that, and now you offer $20, and they say that’s it?”

Smith is a family man. “Four beautiful daughters and my wife! I ask the guys at work, any of you know the way to win an argument ‘cause I haven’t learned it yet? Two of our girls are in college, and the twins are in seventh grade.”

And family needs have reconfigured his life, as well. “My wife has an illness— scleroderma — and now I am privileged to be her caretaker. Things you might take for granted, like taking the top off the orange juice, she can’t do any more. So we stay humble and prayed up. I want to show my girls that there Solid Waste and Landfill Superintendent Jimmy Smith Jr.

are people who will love you for you, no matter what. But I still have a lot of responsibilities over two departments. A lot of people look up to me, and I want to meet that well, set the bar high.”

As with so many other businesses, COVID made its presence known. Smith said, “I had COVID, and it hit hard. Couldn’t breathe! It didn’t shut us down. In a landfill, you have just one person in a setting, so we were pretty much distancing just by doing our job — everyone riding and working by themselves. I had to go to meetings and public things, so it’s hard to say where I got it, but it hit hard in the admin building. They had to shut that whole building down. A lot of people think handling garbage is the riskiest of all, but it’s actually safer in the sanitation department than out in the rest of the world. You aren’t really touching anything because you’re in the cab of a truck!”

He continued, “But we have staff shortages now. Used to be about 28, and now down to 11. We’re trying everything to get

Some of the Thomasville, Ga., Solid Waste Department’s best equipment is set up at a job fair to entice potential team members. (Photo provided by Jimmy Smith Jr.)

more help. We’ve done job fairs (and) advertising, of course; we’ve done pretty much everything but sign-on bonuses. We are promoting within, and that helps some. But when you work with a short staff, morale goes down quickly, so I don’t stay in my office, just sitting behind my computer. I’m out walking through, high-fiving people, jumping in to help with the trucks, because hey, if we can go home early, let’s go! I want an open door policy. They all have my cellphone number. You need me? Got something you want to talk to me about? We’re family! I try to create an environment of team openness. You got something going on? Can’t work a full shift or whatever? We’ll make it work. It makes them feel good. Makes them feel heard and seen.”

Smith has made some changes through the years. “We used to have over 7,000 customers, probably more, and we gave back door service. Two different trucks out, and the guys would walk through the yards and pull the containers to the side of the road. But there were a lot of problems. We ran into dogs who didn’t want us there. We might be accused of stealing something. The turnover rate was awful, and the job was excruciating. Once the cans were emptied, they had to take them back. COVID actually stopped this because cross contamination. That has saved us an abundant amount of money. Heat exhaustion, dog bites, falls, whatever — workman’s comp costs were in the top 3%. Now the customers are responsible for their own cans.”

Another change has been technological. “Cameras in the trucks have helped a lot. No more ‘You hit my mailbox, etc.’ We have video to prove/disprove our truck wasn’t there. GPS systems, well, we can tune in and see the driver. And we can check how the trucks are doing, fuel efficiency and such. A new driver may know how to operate the truck but not the route, and this shows them how and where to go.”

Recycling has changed, Smith said.

“Cardboard, the prices went up and down, and we no longer take plastics because it wasn’t cost efficient — you could recycle 1 and 2, but 3 and 7 weren’t taken. It just became simpler to say no plastic; we were transparent with the public so they’d understand why. We don’t do glass because we couldn’t get anyone to take it for less than $2,000 — for an open trailer. And it cost that much each time, even if the trailer wasn’t full. Well, you can’t make people do their recycling the way you want to every time. We took metal. We had two major Jimmy Smith Jr. poses with his family. In back, from left, are daughter Giselle, wife Jeanne, Smith and daughter Jazlyn. In front, from left, are fraternal twins Jayla and Jayda. (Photo provided by Jimmy Smith Jr.)

sites, but they were being illegally filled with mattresses and clothes and such … (we) had to revamp how we did it. Operation Shield from China wasn’t taking our stuff because it was too contaminated. Medical waste, now, we got a handle on that years ago. Even at home, people are using jugs for needles. But we had trouble for a while with syringes because they thought, well, it’s plastic so it should be okay. We don’t do curbside because customers didn’t get it right. There are two sites in town and a couple more on the outskirts for glass, clothing, shredded paper, metal and aluminum. Batteries we got away from because of such an abundance, and toner cartridges — too many of both. Earth Day we collaborate with, you know, Keep America Beautiful. We used to have big barbecues, but now it’s a bag of goodies, because of COVID. Used to have tents set up and kids from the schools. I hope we can get back to that.”

For Smith, this community connection is important.

“I’m very passionate about this,” said Smith. “You’d be surprised at the relationships you build with the kids and the old people, if you’re a people person. I want to educate people on this and what they can do. Landfill is about making sure the groundwater isn’t contaminated, etc., and that takes a lot of education and technology. A liner underneath and then the stuff on top. And that smell? Methane? We got pumps to suck up the gas caused by municipal household waste, and then there are flares to burn it off. In bigger areas, landfills can create their own gas and utilize it back into their trucks.”

So, while Jimmy Smith Jr. is no Oscar the Grouch, he loves trash when it’s well managed and kept controlled. And if it isn’t, you can bet he’ll get right on it until it is.