To ensure a positive residential experience, apartment managers must be attentive to waste management issues. Simply put, residents expect easy, convenient ways to dispose of their garbage. They don’t want to deal with foul odors or pests infesting the apartment complex. And ideally, they’d like easy options to recycle.
If your apartment complex is currently suffering from a deficient waste management system, there are a few steps you can take to improve things.
Expand Your Waste Disposal Area
If you notice that garbage is piling up, or that some of your residents have to walk long distances just to toss their trash, that might mean you need to expand your waste disposal area. Add more bins, create more accessible disposal areas, or even increase the number of weekly pickups at your apartment complex. Also be sure trash and recycling areas are close by, eliminating the need for residents to walk to two separate locations to deal with their refuse.
Add a Recycling System
If you don’t currently offer a recycling system, now’s the time to consider one. Not only can it entice environmentally aware residents, but it can also help cut down on cardboard, cans, and other clutter that would otherwise pile up in your garbage dumpsters.
The bottom line? Communities that recycle effectively tend to produce much lower volumes of trash.
Streamline Your Waste Disposal Procedures
Inform your residents of how they should be dealing with garbage and recycling… and, verify that your system is as simple and intuitive as can be. Some suggestions:
● Post rules about key recycling processes,e.g., always breaking down boxes and flattening cardboard prior to disposal,always tying up trash bags, etc. Be sure to post rules in both English and Spanish, as well as any other languages commonly spoken in your community.
● Clearly label and map your recycling and waste disposal areas.
● Verify consistent pickup times that meet the needs of your residents.
Keep an Eye on Unauthorized Dumping
If you hire someone to do your landscaping, the last thing you need is for them to eat up your trash disposal area with big bags of leaves, clippings, and green waste. The same premise holds true for remodelers and other contractors.
You need to ensure that all vendors are disposing of garbage and waste off-site. This might require surveillance, or creating a locked and secure waste disposal area that only your residents can access.
Be Ready for Seasonal Issues
Your residents may experience seasonal ebbs in their garbage production, particularly around the holidays; an extra pickup can go a long way.
Along the same lines, be sure your waste disposal area can withstand extremes in weather, including heavy rainfall and snow. You may need to treat the ground for ice during inclement weather for the safety of your residents as they try to dispose of their refuse.
Ready to talk with one of our waste management experts about some of the issues you’re experiencing in your community? We’d love to walk you through some solutions. Reach out to WasteXperts at your convenience.
