Garbage Collectors

Garbage Collectors (a general term used by Humans) are a species of aliens residing on Earth during the 23rd century.

Biology
The Garbage Collectors are a thin and lanky bipedal species with hairless leathery skin and who stand only at about 4ft in height. Their most distinctive feature are their long prehensile snouts, making them somewhat resemble Earth's anteaters. They do not seem very hygienic or are at least not provided better working conditions, as their skin appears filthy and their work clothes are filthy and torn.

Society
The Garbage Collectors became affiliated with the Federated Territories and immigrated to the Earth city of New York at an unknown point in the decades leading up to the 23rd century. Many of their kind found jobs as sanitation workers and haulers alongside Human, cyborgs and other non-human sanitation workers, and they seemed relatively fine with their lot in life until New York City officials decided that it would be cheaper to just let garbage pile up and haul it away all at once, leaving many Garbage Collectors without a job, forcing them into a life of poverty for at least a generation.

Garbage Collectors would continue to protest against this decision in the following years, with many organizing strikes on the mounds of garbage in an attempt to keep the garbage from being hauled off. Eventually tensions between the Garbage Collectors and the city became so bad that police officers were seemingly allowed to end protests violently if need be.

Appearances

 * The Fifth Element (1997, deleted scene and bonus featurette)
 * The Fifth Element: A Novel (1997)
 * The Story of The Fifth Element (1997)

Trivia

 * The true name of the species is never mentioned in the script or novelization where they appear, but the The Story of The Fifth Element book simply lists them as "Garbage Collectors". The Alien Element: Strikers featurette also refers to them simply as "Strikers" due to having been on strike during their deleted film scene.