COLERAIN TOWNSHIP — It's only 6:35 p.m., but it's already dark as Bryant Wilson maneuvers his waste removal truck up the circular road to the Rumpke landfill.

        The 33-year-old night shift Rumpke driver is delivering his first load of this fall night — a massive metal container filled with trash from the Chiquita Center downtown.

        Mr. Wilson, a resident of South Cumminsville and a Rumpke employee for more than seven years, gets out and opens the rear end of the container on his “roll-off” truck; so named because the metal container rolls on and off the truck with the assistance of a steel cable. Using the truck's hydraulic controls, he lifts the 8,000-plus pound container to about a 45-degree angle and the trash spills onto the ground.

        Floodlights illuminating the dump site revealbulldozers and trash compactors moving and mashing the dumped garbage and debris into the ground. “I'm still not used to the smell, but my sinuses often act up and that helps me deal with it,” the 1988 Western Hills High School graduate says.

        Mr. Wilson has been a night shift commercial route driver for three years.

        “I did residential trash for several years,” he says. “This is a lot easier. With a residential route you can have (up to) 800 stops in a day versus a commercial route where you have five or six loads.”

        By 7:30 p.m., Mr. Wilson is back downtown to return the empty container to the rear of the Chiquita Center. It's a tight squeeze.

        A container that measures 6 feet high, 8 feet wide, 20 feet long has only a few inches of clearance from a concrete overhang. But Mr. Wilson — using the truck's hydraulic controls — slowly slides it into place on the first try.

        “A lot of containers downtown are in difficult spots,” he says. “When I'm sick or on vacation, the other guys cry.”

        Next it's off to his pickup at the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority facility in Queensgate.

        “The only thing bad about these trucks — they don't turn like cars,” he says as he makes a wide turn onto Western Avenue to enter the housing authority parking lot.

        Arriving back at the Rumpke landfill site, Mr. Wilson stops his truck at the scale house so it can be weighed. The scale reads 54,580 pounds.

        “They subtract the weight of the truck and the container and it tells you exactly how much the garbage weighs,” he says.

        Ohio EPA regulations limit the Rumpke landfill to 8,600 tons of non-hazardous garbage a day. There have been exceptions — tons of debris from the April 1999 tornado that hit parts of Blue Ash and Montgomery prompted the EPA to give Rumpke temporary permission to exceed that limit.

        After Mr. Wilson dumps the housing authority load, it's time for a lunch break. After that he has pickups at Club Chef, Fountain Square and Queen City Barrel before he completes his shift around 4 a.m.

        He likes the night shift.

        “My wife sometimes doesn't like it because I'm not at home at night,” says Mr. Wilson.

        But the father of three children, ages 14, 9 and 4, prefers it because he's at home during the day and easily reachable if there's any problem.

        “If they have a doctor's appointment, I can take them,” he said.

        Occasionally, Mr. Wilson gets to fill his truck with something other than discarded items. Using a special container with hay in it, he has driven in the Northwest High School homecoming parade the past two years.

        “Students in the back throw candy (to the spectators),” he says.

        Over the years, Mr. Wilson has been the subject of some kidding from relatives because he drives a garbage truck. They call him "Roc,' the name of the early 1990s Fox television network sitcom character — an affable garbage truck driver who often brought discarded items home.

        Is it a fair comparison?

        “I'm not taking anything home,” Mr. Wilson quips. “Once I throw something in the truck, it's gone.”

        If you have a suggestion for Night Watch, call William A. Weathers at 768-8390; fax 768-8340.

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