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The Secret Expense of Trash Handling

The Secret Expense of Trash Handling

Most apartment communities are accustomed to passing through the expense of trash hauling. The monthly bill the trash hauler sends either goes directly to the community or in some cases is billed directly to the resident. The actual cost of the bill is made up of several factors- the number of trash bins, the size of the trash bins, how often the bins are picked up weekly, and whether or not trash compactors are used.

Whether it is realized or not, apartment communities also encounter an on-going “trash handling” expense in addition to the monthly trash hauling expense. This is the amount of time the maintenance team spends handling trash at the apartment community on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. It is made of up of duties including cleaning trash rooms or corrals, staging bins for trash pickup a few times per week, cleaning/maintaining the tenant trash rooms (in podium or wrap communities), and managing bulk items that are left across the community. “Trash handling” costs are very difficult for apartment communities to manage for many reasons:

  1. Apartment communities spend more time handling trash then they are aware of or are likely to admit. Trash handling happens on an as need basis so tracking the time spent on it is very challenging. Trash handling not only hits the person handling the trash- it also weighs heavily on the community manager and service manager as well.

  2. Apartment communities typically don’t bill back the expense of “trash handling”. Not only is it difficult to pinpoint the time spent on trash handling- the trash duties usually are the responsibility of the common area maintenance team. As a result, it is very unlikely that the monthly expense of “trash handling” is even captured, let alone billed back to residents.

  3. The common area maintenance team is typically overwhelmed and should focus its attention on projects that attract and retain residents. An opportunity exists for apartment communities to re-direct the common area maintenance labor spent on trash handling to focus on such projects.

  4. Trash is an afterthought. Trash only seems to get addressed after a problem exists like a trash chute is jammed up to the 4th floor or trash bins are overflowing. While trash may not seem like a big issue, a poorly run trash handling program can make a big impact on resident’s perception of the community.

How do you address “trash handling”? Is the monthly expense being passed through to residents? A well designed trash handling program should enable your community to pinpoint the actual cost, bill back residents, and free up the value time of the common area maintenance team.

Chris Fabian is the corporate sales manager for Terra Pacific- a company that focuses on trash/waste savings, services and recycling.

 

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