Put It There!

Her friends and family find it hard to believe, but Sharon Evanson says she loves her job.

Evanson, 36, works for Waste Management Corp. directing traffic and inspecting trash and screening toxic wastes at the Simi Valley Landfill.

“A lot of people have the wrong idea,” Evanson says about her job. “They think it’s dirty and smelly. But that’s not the way it is. It doesn’t smell horrendous. It’s beautiful out here. You don’t think of it as a dump.”

Evanson, a licensed dental assistant who has worked at the landfill since January, said she found out about the job in a newspaper advertisement.

“I did it for the fun of it. And it is fun,” she says. “You meet all kinds of interesting people . . . and it puts you outside.”