Remember you may get FREE unlimited trash pickup service...

[Andrew Fidler]

A few weeks back I started getting complaints of roaches from one of  my units in a six unit building we own...I scheduled a whole-building inspection expecting to find one piggy who needed to be prodded to clean up their act.

The problem I identified was a bit more system systemic...I have operated a 6 unit building of mine for six years now without a dumpster. The City of Toledo in Lucas County allows up to 4 tote cans to be supplied to an address, so the building has been conditioned to fit their garbage into a specific volume and anytime I have a renovation or move out I have my crew move the debris to a dumpster located at another unit.

When we inspected the units we found that almost every unit had a corner of large debris that wouldn't fit in the dumpster, some had bagged garbage staged for placement inside the trash cans when they were next emptied (which contributed to my bug problem). There was no process in place for the removal of large items and none of the tenants thought to bring it to our attention!

I can't say I'd really considered the dilemma before...and the solution is so cheap I wanted to post a reminder up on BP. Toledo uses Republic Services for trash pickup...the city contract allows a "bulk pickup" to be scheduled each month free of charge.

My building is scheduled for Spring Cleaning on Tuesday night (I have a pair of guys just assigned to help organize, inspect, and handle anything heavy to be moved for the elderly tenants) but we should have a massive offering for the trash truck on Wednesday. We have a basement in the building which itself is filled with archaic doors and miscellaneous junk so we get to clean up too!

THE BEST PART IS IT'S FREE, since it's included in our taxes (water bill for Toledo). I would highly recommend everyone check their local procedures and consider offering this service to your tenants.

If anyone in Toledo needs labor for spring cleaning or a  trash out help throw me a PM, happy to assist.

I'd love to know if other municipalities have unlimited trash pickup...I can't believe that Toledo has  some unique perk. :)