Property managers have a seemingly never-ending task of responsibilities which even include proper hygiene and pest control in common garbage areas. Complexes and estates strive to push their residents to maintain best practices when using this area, but this can fall away without stringent measures, encouraging pest infestations, mould outbreaks and worse.
Reminding your residents that you can only go so far, you will, unfortunately, need to take responsibility for the area to ensure that it’s safe enough for use and does not pose a health risk. In these types of situations, it is best to delegate the supervision of garbage bin areas to an employee to ensure it is maintained correctly.
These are a few ways to control the use of the area and avoid potential outbreaks.
Encourage Resident Cleanliness
Constant and consistent communication about the garbage area can force the residents to tidy up themselves. Ensure you have sufficient bins available, clear pathways to and from the area and a disinfectant station nearby. By ensuring you have these basic amenities in place, you will likely have a far cleaner area to control.
Enclosing The Area
Depending on the area allocated for refuse, you could potentially add an enclosure around it. If bins are in a room, ask residents to make sure that the door is locked at all times to avoid any outside pests from coming in. Both measures can be useful in preventing infestations and deterring stray cats, monkeys or even rats from tearing through garbage bags.
Add A Monitoring System
Depending on your HOA (Home Owners Association) bylaws, you may be able to have a surveillance system installed from both a security and sanitary point of view. This can be extremely helpful in forcing residents to use this area correctly. However, if you cannot go the surveillance route, making keys for residents for the area or having security pop in every few hours can alert you to potential problems.
Be Clear With What Is Refuse
Residents can get lazy, throwing away just about anything or even storing junk in the area. By reinforcing what is allowed as refuse and what is not, you can cut down on the garbage bins being used improperly. When people store miscellaneous items near their dirt, it can create the ideal environment for pests to thrive. It is harder to notice them running around and the crevices are suitable to build nests in without being disturbed.
Unfortunately, garbage does draw in pests on the hunt for food and there is no long-term solution to keeping them out. But these useful measures can be effective in preventing infestations from overtaking space.
If you find that your efforts are no longer effective and need professional help, contact us at Enviro-Safe. Our experience across commercial and residential properties guarantees us a job well done every time.
