They are called "trash pickers and dumpster divers." But it can be dangerous to be a scavenger in winter.

January and February have not been the easiest months to be a waste collector.

Large amounts of snow and sub-zero temperatures make their workplace a less safe place to be.

You might see the consequences yourself when you take out the trash. Many households and municipalities report overflowing waste bins that haven’t been emptied for weeks. In some places, this is the case even though sidewalks and roads have been cleared and salted.

Perhaps waste management companies have been overly cautious—but for good reason, says Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt, director of Verdis’ division in Zealand.

*"When you drive with containers weighing up to 70 kilos on a mirror-smooth surface, you can easily twist your shoulder or back. That can be dangerously insane."*

Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt (left) and Stefan Olin (right), managing director of Verdis, were out emptying waste bins in Sorø. *(Photo: © Rasmus Troldborg, DR)*

On Thursday alone, when large parts of Zealand were hit by a snowstorm, Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt counted 11 injuries in a single workday.

*"It hurts to send my employees home with broken arms and elbows because they have to collect waste,"* he says.

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### Rising number of workplace accidents

Sorø and Ringsted municipalities are among the places where waste trucks have had to refuse thousands of emptying requests.

*"The weather has made it more dangerous for our waste collectors to go out and empty the bins,"* explains Giulia Nielsen, head of recycling and customer service at Affald Plus, which handles waste in several Zealand municipalities.

> *"We have an incredibly strong focus on our employees' safety and, of course, do not want them to get hurt while working."*

> **Morten Glasius, Communications Officer, Odense Renovation**

The company outsources the actual emptying to Verdis, which decides whether it is safe enough for employees to go out and empty the bins.

*"They have to consider their employees' safety and working environment. It’s the driver who assesses whether it’s safe to drive down a road and whether it’s safe to pull the container through the snow,"* says Giulia Nielsen.

There’s good reason why safety is a top priority for waste management companies. In 2025, the number of reported workplace injuries in the sector rose by 33 percent compared to 2021, according to figures from the Danish Working Environment Authority.

*(Read also: Waste collectors are tired of poor working conditions: 'You tense up because you’re a bit nervous' [https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/skraldemand-er-traet-af-daarlige-arbejdsforhold-man-spaender-i-kroppen-man-er-jo-lidt-nervoes](https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/skraldemand-er-traet-af-daarlige-arbejdsforhold-man-spaender-i-kroppen-man-er-jo-lidt-nervoes))*

The harsh winter weather has also led to accidents among employees at Odense Renovation.

*"We’ve had three workplace accidents where employees slipped in the snow and had to be absent afterward,"* says communications officer Morten Glasius.

*"We have an incredibly strong focus on our employees' safety and, of course, do not want them to get hurt while working."*

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### Harsh criticism

The buildup of waste has led to major frustrations in many households. This is evident in several Facebook threads, where people share images of bulging waste containers and express disbelief over the delayed emptying.

> *"We really want to empty the waste. We understand their frustrations, but safety comes first."*

> **Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt, Director of Verdis’ Division in Zealand**

The frustration has also reached several municipalities and waste management companies, where customers call in. And it’s not always polite, says Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt.

*"We get a lot of calls. And we get calls where people demand that we go out and empty their waste. And now I say it as it is—that we’re just a bunch of idiots. Especially 'waste princesses' have become a new phenomenon."*

His employees also face unpleasant confrontations on the streets.

*"Many of them say they think about it when they get home from work and that they can’t sleep at night,"* says Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt, who has a message for the many frustrated customers.

*"We really want to empty the waste. We understand their frustrations, but safety comes first."*

Waste bins like these in Sorø have waited several days to be emptied. *(Photo: © Rasmus Troldborg, DR)*

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### Perhaps too conservative

At Affald Plus, they agree with the frustrated citizens that waste management companies may have been overly cautious in deciding whether to collect waste from customers.

*"They’ve probably been a bit too conservative in their assessments because they wanted to be sure they didn’t have more workplace injuries among their employees,"* says Giulia Nielsen.

But Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt disagrees.

*"Actually, I don’t think we’ve been too cautious. In the first week of snow, I had 18 workplace injuries among my employees in South and West Zealand,"* he explains.

It wasn’t just the waste collectors who had problems in the snow that first week. The waste trucks also got stuck.

*"When I also had 15 cancellations of trucks that were stuck, I hit the brakes and took responsibility—because we need to get home safely, and so we have to stop emptying,"* says Stefan Thirup-Bielefeldt.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.