EAST LANSING – The alarm goes off at 1 a.m., and Evette Drummond is out of bed at 1:30, out the door by 2, at the Republic Services office in Youngstown, Ohio, by 3 and ready for her garbage route.

She drives a roll-off truck now, spending much of a workday that can extend until 5 p.m. picking up large items at construction sites. For most of her 12 years in the industry, she did a residential route, and by the end of her time doing that a crew consisted of one person — driving the truck and loading everything — as opposed to three people when she started.

“My help was my left arm,” she said, “and my right arm.” - Read more at Freep.com