The simple answer is: yes. Trash chutes, hoppers, and the trash room itself – they all eventually accumulate food residue, liquids, and grease. The smell those things create (we all know that smell) entices pests like flies, cockroaches, and rodents, and they stay for the abundant breeding ground it has become. As much as it attracts pests, smell can equally turn off residents, tenants, and anyone else who may enter the building you manage. It won’t matter how clean the halls or common areas are – if the building smells dirty, people with think it is.
There are things you can do. Let’s go over what’s happening, why, and what can be done about it!
Why Do Trash Chutes Attract Pests
Food Residues: When a resident shoves a pizza box down the chute and some of the grease gets on the side of the trash chute, or a piece of leftover crust falls out, that’s all pests need to start sniffing your building out. Now multiply that by how many apartments you have in your building – and that residue can accumulate quickly. Those leftover food scraps and liquids coating the inside of the chute are an attractive food source for pests. They don’t need much and are not picky about what they eat.
Foul Odors: Even if the food is in bags, while it sits and decomposes, organic waste produces some strong odors. While they are foul to you and your residents, it’s a big welcome sign to pests in nearby areas, which is what makes trash chute odor control so important.
What Problems Are Caused by Pests in Trash Chutes
Breeding Ground: The combination of food, moisture, and shelter within a dirty chute creates perfect conditions for pests to breed and multiply. Flies will lay their eggs, and the maggots that hatch will have copious amounts of food to eat so they can grow up to become even more flies in your building. And those flies will also lay eggs… and on and on the cycle will go. Cockroaches and rodents, too, will use this area as a buffet for them and their young to feed at.
Easy Access: Because there’s probably a trash chute on every floor of a multifamily building, it makes it very easy for pests to travel up and down the chutes to get to any rooms they want. This makes whatever pest infestation you have in your trash areas much more widespread and will, of course, create complaints with the people in the building.
What Pests Are Attracted to Trash Chutes
Cockroaches: These disgusting pests can be found infesting your garbage chutes or the trash chute areas because they thrive on rotting organic matter. And as they walk through chomping away, they pick up bacteria and transfer to wherever they walk next, like a countertop in an apartment. That can actually make people sick.
Flies: Flies need organic matter not only to eat, but to breed in. They are drawn to trash chutes and garbage areas because they are the perfect areas for both. Because flies land in decaying matter, they will always have bacteria on them, so the next place they land is now contaminated, too. They spread bacteria, and because they can fly, they can spread it just about everywhere.
Rats & Mice: Rodents are notorious for being opportunistic – that means, they will eat whatever they can get, wherever it may be. That includes dumpsters, trash rooms, and even garbage chutes. As their feet walk through the decomposing food, they are also dragging their tail through it. Those tails are holding so many bacteria, and they will spread it around wherever they walk. That includes salmonella, hantavirus, and even the bubonic plague.
How to Prevent Pests in Trash Chutes
Regular Cleaning: The best way to prevent pests in trash chutes is to have the hopper, the chute, and the surrounding trash areas professionally cleaned and sanitized on a routine basis. It will remove food waste, grease, and other debris that create the odors pests are attracted to, as well as the breeding conditions the pests will stay for.
Educate Your Residents: The more your residents know about the importance of using sealed plastic bags for garbage, which help to prevent leaks and odor from escaping into the chute, the better. Although you can tell them all you want and there will still be those who throw food down the chute or think it’s ok to keep the greasy paper in the pizza box.
Maintain Your Trash Room: Regularly empty your trash rooms. During peak times when garbage may accumulate faster, consider adding an additional pick-up day. No matter how many times the trash is picked up, though, keeping the trash room at the bottom of the chute clean is essential. You can’t prevent all spills and pests might be lurking just waiting for them to happen. And if they are drawn to the chute, they can easily crawl up and access hallways and ultimately, apartments.
The trash chute and trash areas are often overlooked. So, not only can they accumulate grease and grime that will attract pests and create foul odors in your building, but they can also sit unattended (and uncleaned) while pests multiply at an alarming rate. Staying on top of them and keeping them clean and sanitized will take care of a lot of pest issues that could seem like persistent, unsolvable problems. And once they are taken care of, keeping on top of those areas with a Trash Chute Cleaning Program will help keep them from coming back. DIY is not the way to go for this either. If you’re sitting there Googling, “How to clean apartment trash chute,” then maybe it’s not for you to do. You’re much better off Googling, “Trash Chute cleaning near me.” Your best bet is to contact your local pest control company to see if they offer this service. Having your pest control company clean your trash chute and trash areas is super convenient. You already know them, you already trust them, and they already know your building. So, not only do you need a trash chute cleaning program, you need the right company to do it. Do your research.