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A sleepy suburb of Denver
nestling securely in the comforting shadows of the Rockies.
The people there going about their daily lives, raising families,
enjoying the natural beauty of their surroundings in Colorado.
And each making their small, yet equally significant contribution
to this.
I've driven just about every high-powered vehicle there is.
But that was just for fun.
The world's biggest, baddest vehicles are made to work.
So, now, I've decided to travel across the United States
to see if I can conquer the monsters of the worksite.
I'll have just three days to learn
how to handle these complex and dangerous machines
that normally take years of training to master.
And in the end, we'll find out if I'm good enough to get the job done.
This is the Denver Regional Landfill.
This place can handle, process and dispose of 4,000 tons of refuse a day.
A task that big requires some specialist tools,
and not just one machine, these three.
Bulldozer,
compactor,
and scraper.
I've got three days to learn how to handle all three.
And at the end, to pass my final exam,
use them to handle and dipose of a mound of trash
equivalent to what I would have produced in my life so far.
About 26 tons.
And I thought I was tidy.
Turns out my mum was right.
So, Brian, I'm here,
I'm ready to get my hands on the vehicles, I can't wait.
But before I do that, I've got to know how the place works.
So, you're in charge, what goes on here?
Well, Richard, essentially,
everything that everybody puts out on their curbs and thinks that just disappears,
it actually comes here
and we manage it and dispose of it
in an environmentally safe and friendly manor.
Once the trash comes in here, they're going to dump.
We'll have the bulldozer pushing it into place.
The packer will then be running over it,
and then, essentially, we'll be covering it with the scraper.
They each have a very specific role and they've got to work together
for this whole place to function.
-Absolutely. -It looks almost choreographed,
a routine of stuff comes in, it's spread out, it's compacted
and then it is covered and it's...
At the end of the day it's a nice, fresh hill again.
BRIAN: Our dance of chaos.
It might be when I get in there.
It actually is chaos briefly.
But I will try, I will try and fit in with your team, I promise.
My name is Brian Carp and I've been with
Waste Connections for the past four years.
I'm the District Manager for the Denver Regional Landfill.
And it's been in existence since 1980.
So, for the past 30 years this has been accepting trash.
My name's Chris, and I've been at the landfill
for about three or four years now.
I've been driving the monster machine since I was 16 years old.
I was driving it with my dad, he basically taught me how to run the equipment.
My name is Justin Lambert, I've been here five years at the landfill,
and been doing this kind of work for about 12 years.
By no means am I any master with any of this equipment,
so for Richard to come in here,
this little fancy Englishman and think
that he can master each piece of equipment in three days?
(LAUGHS) I'd love to see that!
If he wants to be the cocky man on the block
and show me what he thinks he can do, let's see!
Uh, it's going to be tough.
HAMMOND: Now, since I have only three days to master three giant machines,
I'd best get started.
First up, the mighty bulldozer.
CHRIS: My favorite machine by far to run is the 'dozer.
It's got the big old blade up front to push the trash around with it.
It's just got the most power
that we've got at the landfill and I love it.
I've been running it for about 10 years, I'd say.
So, in essence, what we've got is tracts here, engine.
-Yes, sir. -Is it a big one?
-It's a huge one. -Yeah.
-About 325 horsepower. -Lovely. That's plenty.
And a whole lot of torque?
-Yes, sir. -That is what I'm guessing.
Then you can't really help but see this. This is a blade?
CHRIS: Yes, this is a blade that's kind of the standard
flat blade used to push the trash every day.
-Right. -These teeth down here in the bottom
are actually called "cutting edges".
What ends up happening right here is this bottom edge
right here is actually what's engaging the ground.
And that wears quicker then anything on the 'dozer.
And when the cutting edge gets worn down too far
it actually starts cutting into the blade.
-And that's expensive. -And that's expensive.
These are only a couple hundred dollars, whereas this blade is thousands of dollars.
-So these are like a disposable razor? -Exactly.
So let's, um, make it begin.
-Make it begin? Let's do it! -Yeah!
Fire it up!
Maybe it's the proportions of the bulldozer, it's just kind of...
(GROANS) It's just a lump of muscle, isn't it?
Okay, Chris, uh, carry on.
Is there an official term to be said to begin the demonstration, the fine art...
-No, I think "carry on" for the bulldozer is just fine. -Well, I mean... Yeah.
Okay. So, now, here comes the 'dozer.
Yeah, I guess let's move out of the way of that as well.
BRIAN: Well, what you can see is just the pure power of that.
HAMMOND: It's not even feeling that, is it? It's not even aware.
He's used to driving those fast cars that
got a couple hundred horsepower.
This thing's got a lot more than that.
HAMMOND: He's shifting tons and tons of stuff around, but with finesse.
He's finessing that blade off the floor.
Exactly, right. Because, you know, he doesn't want to dig down too deep,
he doesn't want to expose that trash down below.
So he's just skimming it right off
and he's placing it in the hole right where he wants it.
But he is actually making the earth move as he does. I mean, it's vibrating.
Yeah, you can feel it. 'Cause, look, we're standing on trash,
we're standing on 30 years worth of trash right here.
Right, I've just got one other question as we stand here, really.
-Yeah? -Which is, when are you going to let me have
a go driving that thing?
-Are you ready? -Yeah, yeah. I'm ready, I'm ready, let's do it.
I notice where you brought me.
You haven't got a lot of faith in me, have you, because it's empty here.
I wouldn't say it's not a lot of faith,
I'd say this is where we take the rookies to learn.
-Are you ready to go? -Yeah, I'm ready for this.
-Let's do it. -Yeah!
I'm feeling scared!
I'll be honest, does it grow?
It's a good thing for Richard that the seat is adjustable,
he is so short compared to me!
This is your key to turn... To start it up.
-HAMMOND: Yeah. -Turtle.
-Yeah. -Turtle means?
-Slow. -Rabbit means?
-Mating. -(CHUCKLES)
Close. (LAUGHS) Fast!
Oh, yeah, I get it, I get it now.
HAMMOND: It's notable, the absence of a steering wheel.
That's all done with this.
-Left, right. -Right.
This is your blade.
Forward is down, back is up.
And then left to right will tilt the blade.
-Right at the contours... -Yes.
You know, being a good operator is about
feeling it in the seat. It's about time in the seat.
You really start to feel the grade when you're sitting in a seat.
There's a lot of horsepower and torque there, right at your command,
but it's a whole different experience.
You don't have a steering wheel,
you got one lever to go right and left,
you've got another lever that moves the blade up and down.
It's a whole different world for him.
-Are you ready? -Yes.
Turn that key!
-A lot of things happen... -(HORN SOUNDING)
-Oh, is that bad? -Nope, you're all right.
Turn her over.
(ENGINE STARTING)
-Move it forward. -Forwards?
God, it's really sensitive!
Now, now, hit the throttle button, hit the rabbit.
Look at how fast you're going.
3.5. It feels like a million!
(LAUGHING)
You just crank it over!
Go all the way!
You're still in gear so you're going to roll.
Then put it in neutral. There you go.
So there's only two speeds for this engine?
-Idle... -All or none.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Unless you're feathering it.
That's cool.
-Want to go by yourself? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, good luck!
Oh, God!
-CHRIS: You are in the trash, mister. -Yeah, I'm on it!
So you really are carving and shaping with this thing, you're modeling with it.
I'm not aware of it even struggling.
That's remarkable.
It's like he's not trying.
It hasn't noticed, I swear.
(LAUGHING)
You know, for a rookie, he did pretty good!
So what do you think?
It can just create hell but it has no... It doesn't know!
It's easy to create hell, but it's harder to create perfection.
Why don't you come on down? I'll show you what this thing can really do.
No matter rain, shine, snow, whatever it is,
-we're pushing trash, baby. This is our life. -Get out!
Let's just push trash in the rain! It's just more fun!
Okay, what are we doing here?
Right now we're going to find out what this bulldozer can do in the hands of an expert.
Because, inevitably, when somebody first gets in,
they're really heavy on the blade.
And we are going to use it to tip over this trailer home
that you see in front of you.
Okay, that's assuming it doesn't get washed away in the meantime.
Right, if we're ready to do this...
Chris, carry on!
So, what he's going to do is he's going to take his blade
and he's going to position it right on the frame there
and he's going to just run and lift up his blade slightly.
So this is about positioning.
-BRIAN: Absolutely. -And then precision use of the blade.
-Finesse. -Finesse.
HAMMOND: Oh, yeah, he's knocked it over... Oh!
So he's putting it on its side.
Oh, wow!
HAMMOND: That was simply amazing!
Chris was able to take the 42-ton bulldozer
and use his blade like a spatula, gently flipping over the trailer
like it was an egg in a frying pan.
BRIAN: There you have it, Richard. -So the game here is to
roll it over without destroying it too much?
-That is the finesse. -Okay.
Of the brawn, right there.
So you take the massive 40-ton bulldozer and carefully roll the mobile home over,
causing as little damage as possible.
Absolutely.
That gives you an idea of just how easy it is
to take all of that power and turn it into the finesse.
Okay, so this is a test?
-Do I get a go? -This is a test, are you ready?
-Oh, yeah! -We've got another one for you.
(LAUGHING) Oh, okay, I'm confident!
-(LAUGHING) Yeah, I can see that. -I am. I am. Nice work!
-Thank you. Thank you. -Well done.
-All right, Richard. You saw how the expert did it. -Yeah.
-Yeah. -Now it's time for you to flip your trailer.
-This is mine? -Are you ready?
Yeah, hang on. Just before I do it I want to have, you know,
a quick look at what I'm going to do it to.
-She's a beaut. -HAMMOND: You know,
-I've rented worse. -(LAUGHING)
It's a fixer-upper. A lick of paint,
pictures on the walls, put that chair the right way up.
When I'm finished flipping this, you could live in it.
Just pop it back on its wheels and move in.
-Excellent. -Let's see what you've got.
BRIAN: Can you hear me in there, Richard?
HAMMOND: Sadly, no. So I'm just going to go crazy.
Hold on, I've got to adjust the seat up a little bit. Who's been driving this?
Quit stalling, come on!
Right, starting.
-Keys in it... Ooh! -(HORN SOUNDING)
I don't like it when it does that!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
He's going to destroy that thing.
There's no way he's going to make that challenge.
Fire it up.
(ENGINE STARTING)
-It works! -The one thing we want to watch, Richard, is the frame.
Because if it gets caught in those tracts,
it can easily whip right back up there and catch you in that cab.
Right, thanks. You tell me that now, good.
Okay, so this is also dangerous as well as humiliating. Good, thank you!
Yeah, the frame might jump up there and get you!
I suddenly don't feel so confident.
Safety first!
The last thing that we need is a decapitated Englishman running around here.
Okay, I'm going now. Here we go, this is it, I'm going!
BRIAN: Come on, Richard. Let's go!
CHRIS: Lift it, lift it!
BRIAN: Keep going forward! Good!
Just watch this frame on your left side here.
Chris, we better back up, huh?
-Yeah, we may have to. -We don't know what this rookie is going to do with it.
I'm using finesse.
I think I've got it, I think I've got it.
Yeah, it's going to go over!
He's not square to it.
Come this way!
Why is it not working like it did when Chris did it?
That's because we're the experts, buddy.
He needs to come back and grab it under more.
HAMMOND: See, a bit of a shove, that's all it needed.
HAMMOND: Whoo!
There you go!
I think in essence I've got it.
It's just the timing, isn't it? Watch.
CHRIS: Uh, it's toast now!
(BUZZER SOUNDING)
He flipped it and, you know, he tried to lay it over nice and easy,
but it just exploded!
I kind of thought I had it briefly.
It's about finding the tipping point, isn't it?
Tipping with your hand and then you feel it...
CHRIS: Exactly, right.
It... I love the feel of that, I love the machine.
-I mean... -It's a powerhouse, huh?
Yeah, and it's kind of, um...
It's just an obedient bull.
It just does what you want it to do.
Assuming you know what you want it to do.
I want one, I need one. How much are they?
About $650,000.
Ooh, I don't know. That's like three Lamborghinis each, isn't it?
BRIAN: That's pretty close, yeah.
If this is any indication of how he's going to do on the final exam,
I do not see this ending well at all.
He sucked. He couldn't get it done. He failed.
I cleaned my hands, I really cleaned my hands before I ate.
What's the most ridiculous thing that's ever happened here?
CHRIS: Tom's got a story he wants to tell.
Remember the Longmount Hospital sent people out here.
-They had lost a biopsy of somebody... -Oh, yeah.
They had a biopsy and they accidentally put it in the wrong bag,
went out with the trash and they come out here and look for it.
"How big is this biopsy?" "Oh, about the size of a small pork roast."
(ALL GROANING)
How big was the guy you took it out of?
Oh, that's a bad joke!
They couldn't find it, they said,
"We'll have to go and get another one."
Who was sent out to look for it?
Some people from the hospital...
That's a job for the rookie.
-Yeah. -(ALL LAUGHING)
One of the most special loads that we've gotten,
there was, uh, a marijuana crop that was growing up in the mountains...
MAN: Oh, I remember that.
BRIAN: Yeah, I'm sorry they took away your cash crop, your retirement fund there.
(LAUGHING)
And the FBI went and busted it and they couldn't burn all of it, though,
because it was such a windy day.
So they had escorts coming in and they had to have a special burial process
where we dug a hole for them and they sat and watched as it was dumped in.
So now the joke is that you go and stand by one of those, uh,
gas wells that are going down through that area,
the landfill. That you can just sit there by that gas well
and get your contact high from a special load that came in.
-MAN: We can go do that later if you want. -(LAUGHING)
End of day one and I think everybody is pretty much agreed that
I have learnt to handle the big bulldozer with laser accuracy.
All that remains to do today now, really, is to spend the next hour
or four in a really hot shower.
It's... (GROANS)
Yeah, that's not coming out. It's... Ah!
Day two for me here at the Denver Regional Landfill.
I've tasked myself with learning to handle all their heavy machinery
to do what they do here.
And believe me, it's a lot more than just dumping this stuff.
It has to be processed, they have environmental cocnerns to work to.
Even aesthetic and visual ones. They're building a hill.
And to do all of that they use three key, very specialized machines.
Bulldozer, compactor and scraper.
I've challenged myself to learn all three in just three days.
And in the end I'll be tested to see
if I can cut it here as part of the team.
Yesterday, I learned how to drive the bulldozer.
Today, though, I'm moving up scale. It's time for the big dog.
I'm going to learn to drive the compactor.
It's huge! I'm going to drive it!
CHRIS: So, this is the trash compactor, Richard.
HAMMOND: This looks... What's its job?
Trash comes in loose, got a lot of air in it.
We're here to pack it down, rip it up
and make it one tight surface.
Okay, so what features does it have that allows it to do that?
Them big monster teeth right there.
HAMMOND: I had noticed those.
-CHRIS: And the weight. -Yes, how much does it weigh?
123,000 pounds.
-123,000, that's, uh... -That's a lot.
-Many tons. -Many tons. Probably about 60 or so.
Yeah. So I mean... That's a lot of unit.
This tip is really the business end of the compactor.
You've got to think of all this weight, 123,000 pounds,
being focused on this little surface area.
You don't want to get your foot under there, either.
I don't mind.
-You don't mind? -Steel toe caps.
-Yeah, that ain't going to help. -I had to wear them.
Look, like I'm not feeling this, see?
Well, let me go fire it up.
No, you're fine! This is... I mean, these are critical.
This is what it's about, isn't it?
-Yeah. -When this puts one of its little tippy toes down
all of the weight is going through that.
That's the difference between that on your hand or your nail,
-and that with your hands. That doesn't hurt. -Exactly.
-That does. -Exactly.
That's what it job is. It roams around the place
crushing stuff down.
Concrete, you name it. Couches, whatever.
It runs right over and crushes it up.
-Another question. -Mmm-hmm?
Can I have a go?
Come on, I've got to do all three. That's the point.
-I mean... -Okay, let's go for a ride.
-Thank you very much, I thought you'd never offer! -(LAUGHING)
-Oh! -What's the matter?
Chris, did you leave this unlocked?
-Yeah. -Somebody's nicked the steering wheel.
It's stolen. Gone, look! Oh!
CHRIS: Yeah, we're going back to the joysticks.
-HAMMOND: Right, okay. -So, let's put these down.
-Chair of power? Ooh, I like that, that's like a throne.
You've got to remember, you're in this thing for 12 hours a day.
-HAMMOND: So your feet go here? -That's the foot rest.
-I feel like I'm giving birth. -There you go.
-It's... Okay. -Left and right.
-Left and right. -That's all you've got.
-Then over there in your right hand. -Yeah.
The up and down of the joystick is the blade, that little lever that's
sticking up, that's forward and reverse.
I was expecting a, "Right now!" right there.
-There you go, two hands and put your shoulder into it. -Sure. Sure.
-So, can I move? -Yeah, have at it.
Here I go.
-I engage forwards with the pitiful little lever. -Yeah.
I'm moving away... Ooh!
Ooh! Oh! You see, that just feels strange.
-CHRIS: It's different. -Yeah, that is different.
So will this trip it up?
-CHRIS: No, way! -Ooh!
-It's clawing it's way hand over hand. -Exactly. Exactly.
Take it up to third gear, Richard. Let's see what this thing has got!
-We're in third. Yeah! Yeah! -(LAUGHING) Do you feel the power?
Yeah, let's go now, horses!
Right, here I go.
Uh, nearly there. Front wheels are about to go on. Front wheels are on.
-You are in the trash, mister. -Yeah, I'm on it!
Here we go, now I'm... I'm compacting.
Yeah! Give it a shove!
I'm compacting trash! Yeah, I'm on it!
-I'm compacting! -Yeah.
It does feel softer, it's more comfortable.
I mean, I'll be honest. It doesn't smell fresher.
-CHRIS: No. -But it's more comfortable.
There are cab filters, so nothing bad is getting in here, just the smell.
HAMMOND: That's good. Yeah.
-Oh, now she's working. -There you go. There you go, spread it on the face.
Put your blade down a little bit.
So you really are carving and shaping with this thing. You're modeling with it.
Yeah, and then once you get to the toe, you've got to lift it up a little bit,
so you smear it on the slope
and then drag it across the top.
Oh, now the angles are getting quite alarming, but...
Ooh!
-CHRIS: That's a long ways down there! -Yes! Isn't it?
Oh... Oh, that's nasty! Ooh, God!
CHRIS: We call that the pucker effect.
Yeah, isn't it?
Pucker effect is basically when you get in a scary situation
and for lack of a better term, your butt puckers up.
Because you're getting scared,
you're afraid all those muscles just tighten up and you...
And you start to freak out!
Several tons of trash is gone!
So this is the slope that you made me turn around on.
-CHRIS: Yes, sir. -I'll be honest.
I run various off-road vehicles at home.
And what gradient of slope is this?
-CHRIS: This is a 4:1 slope. -That's pretty steep.
And I would approach this with some trepidation.
Especially that bit when you're turning around
at this point when you're cross-slope.
-CHRIS: Yeah. -And it feels like you're going over. But in that,
60 tons of vehicle,
I never felt like it was going to go over.
Actually, it's about the low-center of gravity in the teeth
grabbing a hold of the hills is what it's really about.
Yes, all the way low down.
And those teeth it really does feel like... (CLICKS TONGUE)
-Yeah. -HAMMOND: It's like a cat on a curtain.
-Yeah, exactly. Exactly. -HAMMOND: It's not letting go. It's absolutely fierce.
Driving this thing, straight away I got a sense of its power, its might,
it's a specialist in crushing stuff
and I just wish I could find a way of showing you that, visually.
I'd have to find something so awful,
something big but so terrible
we'd be glad to see it crushed.
Something that deserves to be destroyed
under the compactor's mighty wheels.
I think you can see where this is going. (LAUGHS)
This is serious work we're doing.
Um, we're demonstrating
the power and potency of a specialized working vehicle.
And I think it deserves thinking about.
Yeah, we're not messing about here.
This is science!
CHRIS: Hope you're ready.
(GIGGLES) Yeah.
CHRIS: Have at it. There it goes!
HAMMOND: Oh, it's pushing! Come on, rip it. Rip it!
CHRIS: No, no, we're all right.
I'm chasing it. Come here, you little critter!
-CHRIS: Try that on. -Yeah, turn the wheel into that.
There you go.
HAMMOND: So it's just the engine block that's causing it to stand.
CHRIS: Yeah.
When you're crushing stuff, there's just this awesome power that goes along with it.
This isn't sophisticated, what we're doing now...
No, this is all about power right now.
-Oh, look at that. Like a surgeon. -Oh, look at that.
-That was beautiful! -Like a surgeon did it!
It's about taking something like the minivan that's six, seven feet tall
and crushing it down to a foot, foot and a half tall. It's just destroying it.
-HAMMOND: Yes! -(CHRIS LAUGHING)
There she goes. That is...
I don't think that will polish out, will it?
CHRIS: You know what? One more major.
Let's back it up and give it one more try.
-Yeah, yeah. -Put it in neutral.
-Uh, yeah. -Rev it up.
And just run this thing back and forth, dig into that thing.
-Oh, I see what you're doing. -We're kind of rubbing it in.
(LAUGHING)
CHRIS: Ooh, yeah! There's the engine block.
Yeah, yeah.
There's the last of it.
-HAMMOND: Yeah, I think we're finished there. -I think it's gone.
I'd say that we've done it.
CHRIS: There you go. That's pretty impressive.
Oh, yes!
Good old American minivan!
Oh, look at your handiwork, Richard! Oh!
HAMMOND: Look at that!
It looks like an art installation,
it's landfill art that, we made it.
That's about the coolest thing I've ever seen.
It's one fewer.
I'd like to look at it as a start.
I think in the interest of communicating to you
the power and potency of that machine,
I think we all did... That was time well spent.
It was five minutes, we had some time.
We had a minivan, we had a 60 ton compactor.
You'd have done the same.
HAMMOND: It's day three. I'm getting ever closer to my final exam
where I'll be responsible for processing over 26 tons of trash.
I set myself a challenge of learning how to operate
the three key specialized machines they use here
at the Denver Regional Landfill site.
So far I've mastered two,
the bulldozer and the compactor.
Now I must learn how to use
probably the most complicated and mind-bending piece of machinery here,
the scraper.
So this is the scraper. And, Justin, one thing I noticed straight away,
I'm incisive like this, I just saw it.
It's big! Isn't it big?
-JUSTIN: Yeah. -It's always slightly further away than you think it is.
-(JUSTIN LAUGHING) -There's always further to go...
I must be there going, "No, it's getting bigger, it's getting bigger."
I'd like to point something out. I know, in my odd little life,
it's always going to be a good day when you set out to drive something with
wheels taller than you are.
Now, we've got that ratio going on there.
It takes my guys years to truly master the scraper.
For him to think he's going to come in and master it in the time given...
That's crazy, I'd love to see that happen.
I've been on a scraper now for all 12 years
and it is the hardest machine to operate.
-What's it for? -It just moves dirt.
That's really all it is. Here at the landfill we use it to cover the trash.
So if there was ever a single purpose machine, it's this.
All of this is this...
Yeah. Yeah.
On a really big scale. How does it do it, talk me through it.
JUSTIN: This is one of the twin-engine scrapers.
-We've got one in the front, one in the back, obviously. -What, two engines?
-Right. -Don't say, "obviously", man!
Obviously I've got two engines on my scraper.
They're about 500 horse apiece.
1,000 horse going on there?
-Right. -I like that.
Got your cutting edge... You just pop that into the dirt.
As you're driving along it just scoops it up.
This is called your apron, that holds it all in the bowl.
So that collects all the dirt in there. How much?
Right around 30 cubic yards.
I wouldn't wanna replace a tire.
No, you don't want to. They're...
I think about $14,000 a piece.
Right! But they last years, surely.
I mean, you're not going to damage it, are you?
We puncture a tire weekly.
-One of these a week? -Right.
Oh! I'd hate to be given a wheel brace and a little jack.
-(LAUGHING) -This isn't easy to drive, is it?
It is really dangerous.
The machine itself when you load it is 200,000 pounds.
When you have it all the way up in the air,
that's a real high center of gravity.
And going around corners or if you're working on the side of a slope at all
it's real easy to turn it over.
If you lose that center of gravity with the scraper,
you could roll the machine and it's just like you being in a working clothes dryer.
You'll tumble around, could die, could lose an arm, get thrown out.
It can be pretty dangerous but to me, now, it's just like driving your car.
So, in essence, what we've got here is that it weighs 100 tons fully loaded,
and it might well flip over and roll on top of you.
-Yeah, that's right. -Okay.
-Yeah, you ready to learn? -No. Yes!
-Yes, I am. I'm ready to concentrate really hard. -(LAUGHING)
Here's a suggestion, Justin.
Why don't you drive it first and show me how it works?
-Okay. -All right, this way?
-Yeah. -Oh, okay.
Oh, it sounds powerful, that thing. It is big!
-That is a beast. -It's a beast.
You see, both engines are working in the backpack there.
HAMMOND: Yeah, yeah. So he's now scraping.
-He's scraping. -Ever had an incident in one, ever?
I've actually got it airborne
and ended up getting hurt pretty bad on it.
It's not really built for jumping.
-No, no, no, no. Not at all. -Right.
Uh, it looks quite maneuverable.
CHRIS: It is. It's just like the 'dozer was, it's got a lot of...
It's very sensitive on moving that steering wheel around.
-But it's full. He's just filled it! -CHRIS: It is full.
Justin, try not to grin so much,
people will think you're enjoying your work.
He's going to dump it right here for us.
-So that is 100 tons of vehicle just sitting there? -BRIAN: That's it.
-HAMMOND: So now he's... -CHRIS: He's dumping it out.
See the apron in the front, pushing the dirt out?
HAMMOND: Yeah, yeah.
So, of all of the machines you've got here, the 'dozer and all the rest,
is this a favorite one to operate?
-CHRIS: That's my favorite -HAMMOND: Really?
I imagine when you open the door,
do you just surf out on a sea of testosterone?
-I am... Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Oh, yeah. You're just pumped.
That's 60 cubic yards of soil
that he was able to move right exactly where we wanted it.
-It took him minutes. -Minutes, yeah.
Quick and dirty.
HAMMOND: How long does it take to master that?
To be able to load it and then
lay ribbons like that with the soil,
it takes years of practice.
See, I've got more, sort of hours.
The nice part about it is that you've got first gear, second gear and drive.
At first gear you're only going to get to about two miles an hour.
-That's enough. -Yeah.
And it's got a steering wheel that you're going to be used to.
-Oh, so there's something familiar in there? -Yes, exactly. Right.
-Other then that, the way it steers, -CHRIS: Not too alien.
the way it moves, the fact that it's got two engines
and two throttle pedals.
CHRIS: Remember yesterday I said, "Wait till tomorrow"?
-Yeah. Now I know why. -Tomorrow's here.
-(LAUGHING) -Wish me luck, guys.
-I'm quite nervous. I'm quite nervous in this. -(LAUGHING)
No, I am! Only because...
No, I don't mind sharing it because, uh, it's just big.
Yeah, it is.
-Okay. -You'll get used to it.
-Here you have two motors. -HAMMOND: Yes.
Three pedals, one controls the brakes, where your foot's at now.
Then that's the rear engine,
and the next one over is your front engine.
I'm showing Richard how to operate this thing,
and he looks like his head's about to explode
and he's awful scared he might die.
It's a joystick control. As you see, the joystick itself
moves four different ways
Forward and backward is your bowl control.
Your side to side is your ejector.
Your first button, transmission hold button.
You see there's a pivot here, that is your apron control.
This is a weird machine, isn't it?
It really isn't that bad.
No, no. It's just, everything you've said ends with, "Or it'll roll."
(JUSTIN LAUGHING)
Sometimes it feels like you're in a big a worm, or something.
Right. Can I have a go?
Yeah.
So, it's turning the whole of the unit that I'm in, that is weird.
(GROANING)
Oh!
That's what's weird is when you turn the wheel, it turns you.
That's really weird.
Why don't you try to hit the throttle on the rear engine, too?
Oh, yeah!
Whoa, whoa!
That's a lot of power!
It feels huge and squirmy and slightly alive!
This feels enormous and unlike anything else. It is like a giant worm.
JUSTIN: How are you feeling, Richard?
It feels unlike anything else because of the size of it
you imagine it's going to be rigid and solid.
But it's so flexible it moves and bucks.
So now I'm going to get into position to do a run, yeah?
10-4. Let's do it.
Oh, this is it!
It's like firing a missile, it's a big moment.
Well, fire away then.
Oh, I can see it working. I can actually see it...
This thing is really a mighty machine.
It's a juggling act between
closing that apron to keep in what you've got,
and digging the blade in to get more.
Careful I'm not lifting the can too high because the center of gravity comes up
and that's... Well, that's dangerous.
-I'm putting dirt down. -JUSTIN: That's good, now start pulling the ejector.
Which was the ejector?
Pull the joystick sideways, towards the steering wheel. There you go, that's it.
Yeah, I'm making a row!
That's good!
Richard just finished using the scraper for the first time.
Uh, did surprisingly well.
All right, Richard. It's time to up the ante.
Justin operated one of these in Iraq
and he set up a nice little obstacle course for you to demonstrate what he had to
go through on a daily basis.
Are you ready for the challenge?
Uh, is this a choice?
-BRIAN: No, no choice! -I'm ready! I'm ready, I'm ready.
BRIAN: All right, let's do it.
Okay, Richard. So...
My last tour overseas I was in route clearance.
In route clearance we look for landmines on the side of the road.
So, on this course,
you're going to go straight down the road, pick up a load,
come back and dump it.
But, we've marked all our landmines with red tape.
So avoid those. If you hit one,
you'll get a taste of what we did overseas.
-Easy. -Yeah, right.
-Let us get out of the blast zone before you get started. -Oh!
-Thank you, thank you! -(LAUGHING)
Oh, God!
Going into gear... Okay, we are go.
Give me some power now. Moving carefully.
The landmine course is going to be hard for Richard because
not only do you have to do it quick,
but you have to stay away from those exploding land mines.
All right, come on, bring it on.
I've got to remain inside. That's what really matters.
-(EXPLOSION) -Ah!
-No! -Oh!
Oh, son of a...
No! I'm not made for this kind of pressure!
BRIAN: Yeah, get a load!
CHRIS: Just give her a little bit of throttle and take her on down the hill.
Yeah, I'm cutting! I am cutting!
-Yeah. -There you go, now you can ease your cutting edge in
just a little bit more. That looks good.
-Can you put it down some more? -HAMMOND: Ah!
-ALL: Whoa! -Another bomb!
Well, there was another one.
I'm not sure how much dirty I actually picked up here.
Looks like you started losing your load there.
Where do I turn around?
BRIAN: It's about 50 yards out.
And flip around to your left.
We're just going to take a few steps back, Richard.
Just in case you decide to hit any more landmines.
Yeah, sorry about that. Accuracy not my strongpoint yet,
but I made it! Right, where do I spread?
All right, we want you to drop that load right up on the top here.
Okay, here I come. (LAUGHING)
It's hard to keep the thing straight, that is the difficult thing about it.
(WHIMPERING)
Oh!
JUSTIN: All right!
Okay, right about there. Just, uh, ease the apron open
and start pulling the ejector. That's a lot more dirt than last time!
Great job, Richard.
That was a pretty good load... Oh!
Oh, sorry!
How did you feel with that landmine?
I'm not used to this whole landmine thing.
(ALL LAUGHING)
Okay, you can turn right and come back here over to us and we'll see how you did.
It's a big old thing to try and be accurate with, isn't it?
-It is. -Yup.
And every steering input... Ah! Boom!
-Ah, oh, no. That's the thing over there. -(LAUGHING)
Just thinking of everything I've ever operated,
that's one of them that's right up there for
you can imagine how you could only get better with time.
Well, you eventually get so good that once you set the can
you're looking forward to where you're going
and you're riding a can all by your feel.
-You become one with the beast. -HAMMOND: Yeah.
All landfill sites, wherever they are in the country,
even here at least 1,000 miles from any ocean have a particular problem
courtesy of Mother Nature.
And it is seagulls.
And to cope with that problem they need a very, very specialized machine.
And here it is! Well, not you, Joe, specifically,
but you with the falcon.
And this is the machine you brought. What is he or she called?
This is Bebe and she is a female saker falcon.
Saker falcon?
And, uh, it's a bird, clearly, I've worked that out.
She's not very big and seagulls are enormous!
I mean, they're not going to be scared of her, they'll laugh at her.
She can go 230 miles an hour,
so that gives her the advantage.
When she's going that fast she can really put the hurt on another bird.
Even if it's a little larger.
Does she eat them?
She will eat a seagull.
I mean, she prefers farm-raised quail or pigeon.
-She prefers farm-raised quail? -Right.
But she'll slum it and eat a seagull when she wants a change.
Okay. This site and sites like it are all about
getting rid of trash and waste, yes?
Burying it and protecting it, seagulls come in and eat it.
Well, let them have it!
Well, the problem is it's a pollution issue.
Because, when they eat all of that garbage,
at night they have to roost on a water source.
If they're feeding all day on garbage, they're going to be
defecating all night in our drinking water.
Now you've explained it like that, Joe, it makes perfect sense.
So it is about control.
Enough talk. She looks like... Is she ready to go?
-You want to see her fly? -It's hard to tell.
-Yeah, she's ready. -So, let's do this.
Are you guys ready to see her rip it up?
Yeah, yeah. Do your thing.
I've no idea what's... Do we stay here?
Okay, nobody in the crew make like a seagull right now.
She'll be on you in seconds.
Oh, look!
Already, look!
It worked!
(FALCON SCREECHING)
HAMMOND: Oh, look, she's back!
Well, thank you very much for introducing me to Bebe,
and I'm just going to move over here, now, you keep a hand on her.
I'm small and probably could be lifted.
HAMMOND: Well, it's time for my final exam.
I set myself the goal of learning
to operate all three of the key machines here at the Denver Regional Landfill.
The 'dozer, the compactor and the scraper.
And I think I've kind of got them mastered.
At least, I really hope I have.
Because for this exam I'm going to have to use all three machines
to correctly handle and dispose of this pile of trash
equivalent to what I would have produced in my life so far, 26 tons of it.
But I've only got 15 minutes
to get this lot leveled out,
compacted down to the correct density,
covered in dirt and blended seamlessly into the contours of this hill.
And I'm confident.
Ish.
For the final exam, Richard is going to have to operate all three pieces of equipment.
After three days of training, I think Richard actually has all the basics.
BRIAN: All right, Richard. We've given you 15 minutes on the clock!
Your job is to move all of this trash into that hole. Are you ready?
Um, yes, I'm making sure I remember how to use the bulldozer.
It's been a couple of days. I got it. Yeah, I do, I do.
All right. On your marks,
-get set, go! -(AIR HORN BLOWING)
Yeah, let's go in, right. Now, we're pushing trash!
This is the first part of the process,
smearing it down into the right place.
This is critical. Where I put this trash now will define, ultimately,
what I'm going to level out with the compactor and with the scraper.
Hey, Richard, you've got to get that thing in third gear, buddy.
-You're already about three and a half minutes in. -(HAMMOND GROANS)
BRIAN: Good. Good blade control there.
I'm now scraping this up.
This is what it's all about, this precision.
Getting the last little layer off the floor.
BRIAN: Here comes five minutes.
So let's have that on. Those down.
I've only got 15 and there's three machines to get through.
That still looks like an enormous pile of stuff to me.
Let's see what the compactor does to it next.
That's going to break it down flat.
It's not as flat as I hoped it would be at this stage, but hey,
it's kind of there.
Uh, joystick steering,
blade, gears. Yeah, we're out of here.
Two jobs are being done by the compactor here.
One, the actual compacting,
two, using the blade here to just push the trash
where it will eventually be compacted by the weight of this thing, of it's wheels.
Down the slope now.
This is where it's going to feel alarming,
but it's not going to fall over apparently.
That's eight minutes.
CHRIS: You're eight minutes in, Richard. Hurry!
There's eight minutes left and he has got to pick up the pace
if he's going to finish this course.
HAMMOND: If I've done my job right,
this will just blend in and be another part of the hill.
I'm want you to come back up and get ready to cover it.
Excuse me running away, but...
Oh, that thing is enormous!
All right, let's get this trash covered.
There you go. Can is up.
Parking brake off.
All right, here we go.
Right, first job, get this thing up and over there and get a load off.
Here I come. There we go, now we're loading.
It's going in.
The knack now is I've got to use the apron to stop it falling out.
Oh, God, I hope I've got enough on board,
because that's all I have with me now to do the job.
We're about 12 minutes in, Richard.
Keep going, keep going, keep going.
Start to open up that apron.
Open, good and push with the ejector.
-Oh, look at that! -CHRIS: Look at that. There it goes!
Covering it in dirt, that's my job.
I daren't look... I daren't look back.
-There's 13. -We're at 13 minutes, Richard.
Come on, one more pass.
You know, when they said this thing could go at 30 miles an hour...
Well, why? Why does it need to?
Now I know, they're under pressure.
I need a full load this time, I really do.
Oh, 14 and a half!
You'd better hurry up.
BRIAN: 14 and a half minutes, Richard. Come on, spread that load!
CHRIS: Here we go, coming up on the 10 second countdown.
BOTH: Ten, nine, eight, seven...
-Oh, no! -six, five,
-four, three, two, one. -Oh!
(AIR HORN BLOWING)
-Good try, Richard. -You were close.
HAMMOND: Okay, let's check it out.
Can I just say I'm still buzzing a bit.
-Yeah, feel good? Feel manly? -It's quite... Yeah.
-No! -No?
No, not really, because I've disgraced myself a bit.
-You missed a whole spot over here. -Yeah.
-I did. I did. -Well, there's a spot over there, too.
-Yeah. -And there's some spots down there.
-CHRIS: A couple of spots over there. -Give me marks out of 10.
Come on, for that effort.
Uh, can we go negative or does it have to stay positive?
Oh, come on! Yeah, if you must, give me marks out of 10.
CHRIS: You're like a two.
Oh.
See how it's still fluffy back in there?
BRIAN: We need to make sure that all of this trash gets covered with dirt.
CHRIS: It's been pushed, but not packed.
I'm going to sum it up like this.
Those three machines, incredibly specialized.
-They each have a very specific job. -Absolutely.
-And learning how to use them to do the job. -BRIAN: Right.
That's a whole different thing and that's what I've learnt.
I can now operate, I know what everything does in them,
-I can move them about, use the features. -Right.
I understand it. I can't do it! But I've got it.
I agree. You get, uh, passing marks for that.
I mean, you'd give me a job though, right?
-What time do we open? 4:00 in the morning? -4:00 in the morning!
-Maybe the week after. -BRIAN: All right. Sounds good.
Richard is not a landfill man.
He could be, I've trained lesser,
but, uh, you know,
a couple of days in the equipment, there's no way he's going to
be a landfill guy with that short a training.
I guess the takeaway from all of this is that
just because you're good at driving the fastest and most expensive cars in the world
doesn't mean that you're going to be a good landfill operator
because from what we've seen here,
uh, I'm not seeing it translate.
Three days, three machines. I think I gave myself enough time there to learn,
well, the basics, how to drive them around,
and to get an appreciation of just how focused and specialized
each of those tools really is.
And for that reason I really enjoyed my time with them.
I think to learn how to do anything other than make a mess with them takes time.
To learn how to do what these guys do,
shape a hillside with them, takes years.
And I'll be leaving this place with a better appreciation
for the fact that what I'm watching there is
guys making something difficult look easy.
And trust me, it is difficult.