One of the truisms of trucking is that you never know who is in the cab of the trucks driving the nation’s roads. To the public, it’s often just another face behind the wheel. To the excited kids leaning over the school fence vigorously air pumping their arms as the big rigs roll by, it could be the coolest person in the world – as they return a big smile and an enthusiastic blast on the horn. To those closer to the industry, there may be a familiarity, even if there’s no deeper personal knowledge of one another’s lives – though more often these days, we hear the sentiment that the sense of camaraderie and friendship isn’t what it used to be.

This makes the job of jumping aboard different trucks alongside different drivers each month that much more of a privilege; we usually don’t know who we’ll meet, the path they’ve walked in life, and what stories they’ll have to share.

Arriving at Econowaste, the first driver we meet is 43-year-old Yang Li. Born in central China, Yang grew up in the capital, Beijing, before moving to New Zealand in 1999 at 18. “I came here to finish high school in Christchurch and then continue my studies,” he explains, adding that’s when he moved to Auckland. “I studied IT, but when I finished uni, I struggled to find a suitable job. So, I did a lot of other stuff.”

Yang first stepped into the transport industry during this period, driving a Courier Post van for a while before opening a café in the city. “The construction of the light rail killed that,” he says. Following that, a truck-driver friend nudged Yang back into the driver seat. “I always liked driving,” says Yang. “I’ve been driving for almost five years now. I put myself through the licence classes, starting as a class 2 driver, delivering window framing. But that involved a lot of carrying, which I also had to do at Courier Post, and I thought it wasn’t good for my back. As soon as I got my class 4, I found another job doing civil work, shifting dirt. After a year, that got boring, so I paid for my class 5 and also obtained full WTR and DG.”

Yang started with Econowaste in October 2023. “A friend of mine, also from China, has been with Econowaste for eight years and introduced me into this company,” he says, adding with a laugh, “I only know of three Chinese drivers driving class 5 combinations. There are not many Chinese drivers driving a truck and trailer. But it’s good driving trucks in New Zealand – in China, it’s not a good job. It’s much harder work with bad pay.”

Although Yang is still interested in IT, he has no desire to leave driving behind – much like the second Econowaste driver we meet, Gaurav Bhagat, or Uncle, as he’s better known.

“My nickname is actually Anku, but they call me Uncle,” he says with a laugh.

Although 31-year-old Gaurav is originally from the Punjab region of India, his story runs a remarkably similar path to Yang’s …

“I’ve been in New Zealand for six years now, always Auckland. In India, I worked for the clothing brand Lacoste. I had a B.Com in accounting but I decided to come to New Zealand for further studies, and did an accounting diploma at Mt Albert Unitech.

“At that time, it was hard to get a job in accounting. I needed experience, but I also needed a permanent job to get a visa …” he says. This catch-22 would be the start of Gaurav’s journey into transport.

“Before I started driving, I was doing deliveries for a bakery (where my wife still works). A friend worked for Econowaste and told me they had a vacancy, so I came for an interview. Though I’d only started with a ute, I was interested in truck driving, and Econowaste helped me through my licence classes.”

While he’s been driving the Arocs 630 since the end of 2023, Gaurav spent the prior four years based at the Econowaste Silverdale depot. He worked his way up through various-sized waste trucks, culminating in a Roadranger-equipped Hino 700 hookloader truck and trailer combination, before being handed the keys to the big Arocs.

While Yang and Gaurav know waste trucks aren’t at the glamourous end of the industry, both are perfectly happy being a part of the important machine keeping the nation’s largest city clean. “I’ve been here for five years and I wouldn’t go back to accounting. It’s a good company to work for, and I love the job,” says Gaurav. “And I’m happy in this industry. During Covid, we weren’t affected; we had jobs. Rubbish companies don’t stop working.”

A driver qualified in IT, and one who could do your books … you just never know who’s in the cab of a truck.