For those involved in cleaning communal apartment block areas, these can be a difficult area to deal with after any busy holiday period. It may not be within the normal cleaning remit of the cleaners, yet not cleaning these areas can have a knock on effect for both themselves and other interests such as residents, property managers, and the local authority.
Such communal garbage areas should theoretically be very straightforward to maintain, with people leaving items during the week, and the local authority collecting them soon afterwards. Cleaners of individual resident areas may need to visit and leave trash from their own areas, with the cleaners of the communal areas often instructed by a property manager on behalf of a management company and often needing to spot-check these areas and address any over-use issues.
Unfortunately, the holiday periods can cause serious issues though, with people being at home more and celebrations like Christmas and New Year generating additional trash. Before long, items can be over flowing from actual bins or separately dumped within a bin store, which can then deter the local authority from access and usual bin clearance duties and so escalate issues further.
Therefore, here are five particular lessons to learn from this, all beginning with the letter ‘R’, and helping cleaners be ahead of the game. In addition to resolving any immediate problems, these can also help any communal cleaner develop a better relationship with residents and property managers by proactively helping them in this difficult time:
1. Resolve Problems Quickly. Literally every day can count in arranging a special clearance of items to stop things mounting up further, whether that’s manually moving things or even using skips and other ways to quickly remove trash from the site.
This is often outside the main remit of the cleaner of course, but it is an opportunity for further instructions and helping the customer to effectively coordinate with other contractors, for example landscapers, to help alleviate the problem.
2. Remove Extra Items. It may sound simple, but removing excess items can help save the day, as unfortunately the more trash you have on show, the greater the tendency is for people to continue dumping things.
People tend to think if there is already a build-up of garbage there, it’s a green light to dump their items too. Whether that’s larger items of furniture or packaging, or even already-full bins, an extra attendance to clear up can work miracles.
3. Remind People Beforehand. So the week before any potential bottle-neck holiday period, a simple reminder letter or notices on the wall and bin store can help, explaining to everyone that all additional trash must be neatly placed or removed separately, and to immediately contact the correct person if things do get out of hand. This can be a simple reminder in everyone’s diary for the future, to help save everyone’s time and effort afterwards.
4. Recycle What You Can. In the frenzy of clearing up it may be tempting to place everything together, whereas a little care and attention can still make sure all possible items are recycled. This can be through an additional service, or simply checking the current provision to make sure there is no contamination.
5. Report Issues to the Right People. In some situations, people can assume that others will deal with any issues, whereas in actual fact no one actually does. This is particularly important for those who are not based at site like property managers, where feedback from residents and cleaners can be a huge help.
And as well as resolving the initial problem, a simple report and even photographs of any resolved issues can help everyone then breathe a big sigh of relief.
So it will pay dividends to get ahead of the game when it comes to trash areas, and using some simple but proactive measures can help alleviate more serious problems afterwards. Not only is this for everyone’s benefit and cost saving, but can help foster good working relationships between cleaners and others with an interest in the property.
About the Author
Easy Cleaners are located in UK and have with an active blog of cleaning tips and tricks.
