March 2020
Virtually everything discarded from your condo home eventually makes its way to a dumpster alongside or below the building. Its contents are periodically transported by truck to another location. Some buildings will separate this waste – trash, organics and recycling – to help reduce collection costs and environmental damage.
Waste management is how this process is handled. One of the goals of waste management is to keep waste products from attracting animals and other pests that view our waste as food.
Poor waste management creates conditions that attract flies, cockroaches, wasps and bees. Unsanitary conditions can result in infestations and disease.
Flies, the filthiest of pests, can carry and transmit E. coli and Salmonella. Their populations grow quickly if allowed to breed in areas where trash is collected.
Rodents, one of the more common pests, transmit disease and introduce disease-carrying fleas and ticks.
Cockroaches feed on organic material. They are attracted to areas with waste then make their way into buildings and spread germs.
Wasps are scavengers that like fish, meat and anything with sugar, and are attracted to uncovered trash. Colonies can contain thousands of wasps. As the weather gets warmer wasps and bees will make their way into a building.
Take measures to ensure your waste collection and disposal measures don’t attract pests.
- Keep trash chutes and outdoor trash cans closed and clean. Regularly clean them with detergent.
- Keep dumpsters as far away from buildings and outdoor social spaces as possible.
- Utilize dumpsters with side doors and lids, and are rodent proof. Keep doors and lids closed when unattended.
- Have dumpsters sanitized as frequently as practical.
- Ensure all trash is discarded in dumpsters and trash cans.
- Use odour-neutralizing products in trash rooms, trash cans and dumpsters to eliminate odours that attract pests.
- Prevent the spread of pests by using insect light traps and rodent monitoring stations in trash rooms instead of toxic chemicals.
Pest infestations are a serious challenge to communities. Sound waste management and pest control measures are the best way to control pest populations and avoid or eliminate in-building pest and waste problems.
