Meet one of Lebanon’s female garbage collectors

Meet the Lebanese female garbage collector

taking out the trash and tackling taboos

This is Lia Nurpetlian

frustrated with trash lining the streets

and caught in an economic collapse

she applied for a job at a waste management firm

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GARBAGE COLLECTION WORKER, LIA NURPETLIAN, SAYING:

"When I first started cleaning, I didn't think that it was a taboo in our country or that the Lebanese didn’t work in this field. We can work here, I am not saying that this is forever, for the people who studied and have hopes and dreams, of course, they are thinking ‘we studied hard, just to clean the streets?’ I'm not saying that - but we can clean the streets. We also shouldn't throw garbage on the street in the first place, I am seeing a lot of masks, gloves, and trash, no one is willing to get out of their car, they just throw things out."

The 35-year-old studied tourism and worked in a bar

But the country's situation forced her on a new path

and she hopes others will do the same

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GARBAGE COLLECTION WORKER, LIA NURPETLIAN, SAYING:

"No one is applying and the foreigners are not coming back here. We are stuck here anyway and we cannot leave. There are worse days coming, hopefully, people will apply, and understand that we are living in difficult circumstances."