Refuse collection truck driver Jeffrey Schoonbrood: from the international motorway to the streets of Limburg

These are exciting times for Jeffrey Schoonbrood (33) at the time of writing. Although he would normally be driving his route with the rubbish truck around this time, he is now with his girlfriend, who recently gave birth to a baby daughter. She is the couple’s third child. Together, they make a nice big family – which is also the reason why Jeffrey chose to work as a driver.

Jeffrey became a driver early on. At 18, he started working as a truck driver in international sea container transport. He drove day trips as far as the French coast, some days working as many as 15 hours. He didn’t mind, and he enjoyed doing it for 15 years. But those long days became less and less appealing in recent years, especially with the arrival of his first children. Up early in the morning, home late at night – not ideal working hours when you also have a family. Time to look for something else, he thought.

Looking for other work was a big leap of faith for Jeffrey. Not only did he enjoy being a truck driver, the conditions were good and he had a permanent contract. He looked at vacancies with a critical eye: he wanted to find something that would really suit him. Through AB Werkt, he came across the vacancy of driver/loader at RWM. ‘When I read those, I immediately decided to go for it,’ he says. ‘This was exactly what I wanted, so I had to take that chance.’

Hard workers

We are now almost a year on and Jeffrey is having a great time. The narrow streets were a challenge at first, something he was not used to as a truck driver on the motorway. But he quickly mastered that too. He soon felt at home behind the wheel of ‘his vehicle’.

As a driver, besides driving the route, he is also responsible for the loaders walking with him. He is happy that AB Werkt goes for go-getters. ‘That’s important in this line of work, definitely. If there is just one weak link among them, we have to wait for each other all the time. No matter how fast the others work.’ Recently, they started working with permanent teams and that’s been going well. ‘That way, you are more in tune with each other; everyone knows where to walk and stand. If you are constantly working with other people, you have to assess each other every time. That doesn’t work.’

Kiss in the schoolyard

Jeffrey and RWM proved to be a match. The hours are, as expected, a big plus for the young father. His working day usually ends around 16.00, so he is home with his family nice and early. And he no longer has to travel far from home, quite the contrary: timing his route just right, he will pass by his children’s school before school and give them a quick kiss and hug. Or, during playtime, he will give a quick wave to the schoolyard from the truck.

Does he see himself growing old at RWM? ‘I definitely have a good time here, so why not? Although, you obviously never know what will come your way.’ For the next few days at least, Jeffrey will leave the truck for a while. That way, at least for a while, he will have all the time in the world for his young family.