Anne en de vuilnismannen

Being a garbage collector is usually not mentioned as a future dream job. In fact, there's a good chance that your teacher emphasized that you'd end up riding on the back of a garbage truck if you 'didn't do well'.

Anne van der Steen (30) is a theater maker, but due to the pandemic, she now works as a garbage collector. She comes from a family where everyone is highly educated, while she completed a lower-level vocational education (vmbo). Although her mother has always emphasized 'she has other qualities', the idea that she is worth less continues to haunt her. Since becoming a garbage collector, the profession that symbolizes the lowest of the low, that question looms even stronger: does she really matter? And how do other garbage collectors experience this?