It is Stan's very first day on the job as a city garbage man, and he wants to do everything perfectly. He proudly drives Emily, his big garbage truck, through the neighborhood. But as he starts collecting the trash, Stan notices that people are throwing away perfectly good items. First, he finds a beautiful horseshoe made of flowers, which is far too pretty to toss into Emily's noisy smasher. Soon, he is saving all kinds of wonderful treasures instead of throwing them away. He even starts giving the salvaged items to other people in the neighborhood who can actually use them. By the end of the day, Emily is piled high with trash, and Stan has to figure out what it really means to be a helpful garbage man.