It’s easy to see why San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley declared David McCary, director of solid waste management, a community hero. His enthusiasm for his career, which he began at the age of 18 as a solid waste collector, is contagious. “It’s all about serving the public,” he said. His department of over 600 co-workers serves approximately 346,000 households. Under McCary’s leadership the city converted to fully automated services for residential recycling, organics recycling, and garbage collection. The city’s first Recycling and Resource Recovery Plan titled, “Creating a Pathway to Zero Waste”  is part of the reason that San Antonio is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive zero waste programs in the country.

McCary and his team focus on keeping San Antonio an aesthetically pleasing city, as he puts it in this video profile adding, “I wouldn’t have traded this career for anything in the world.”