North Texas Daily

Christina Ulsh / Senior Staff Writer

Packaging, used tissues, food scraps and sopping paper towels—the waste bin is filled with your undesirables and it starts to stink. It’s time to take out the trash.

Days later it comes time to roll that big green can to the curb and, when you return home from your day at work or school, it has been emptied. The bin is brought back to the house.

The trash is gone and there is no need to think about it anymore.

Unless you are one of Denton’s unsung heroes.

Denton Television (DTV) is now recognizing the men and women who handle the town’s trash and other unsavory tasks through a video series called “Denton’s Dirty Jobs.”

“We hope to communicate to citizens that there are many city employees performing jobs day in and day out that add to the high quality of life that everyone enjoys in Denton,” video producer and director David McElroy said.

The first two episodes focused on Denton employees who handle solid waste and landfills.

“I hope that anyone that watches the video gains a sense of the hard work that goes in to handling trash on a daily basis and the concern we show towards protecting the environment for the citizens of Denton,” said ELR technician Ami Reeder, who was featured on the second episode.

DTV aims to put out a new Dirty Jobs episode every four to six weeks.

“We hand picked the first two episodes,” McElroy said. “However, we have already put out an open call throughout the organization for people and jobs to feature in upcoming episodes.”

DTV is one of five public, education and government access (PEG) channels available to the residents of Denton, McElroy said.

This channel’s department provides educational programming concerning city programs and services as well as city news for its viewers.

“DTV programming is paid for through a combination of city of Denton funds and PEG fees,” he said. “We are a city department just like any other.”

“My hope for the show is that the citizens will gain a new insight into what it takes to operate a city of our size so that it works for all of us,” landfill manager and Dirty Jobs host David Dugger said.

For cable subscribers, DTV can be found on Verizon’s channel 38, Charter’s channel 26, or Grande’s channel 12. It can also be found on the city of Denton’s YouTube channel.

Photo graphic by Aidan Barrett / Senior Staff Photographer