I removed my dumpster today

[Sequoia]

Trash dumping has been out of control for too long. Too many people have become accustomed to bringing household and construction trash. Trash pickup service is optional in my area, so some elect to not have service and just dump at the car wash instead.

I had my dumpster removed yesterday. I'm going to try to run a month or two with no trash receptacles at all. I am expecting some amount of problem with bags left on the ground. We are going to try to monitor that and quickly get them off the property so it always looks clean.

Not sure how this will work out, but it was time to do SOMETHING!

 

[soonermajic]

Hooray for you!!! I badly want to do this as well. My trash cans & dumpster are 80% dumpers, & 20% paying customers! I get onto customers every single week! Our biggest headache by far!

 

[sparkey]

Removed all trash cans a year ago at both my car washes. Best thing I ever did. I had a little trash laying around at first. Now I find trash laying around a couple times a week. I figure the people who are throwing trash on the ground now are the same people who would do it if I had trash cans.

 

[Sequoia]

Surprisingly, it's been two days and I have zero trash.

Mama bear came to the wash last night. She had been bringing her cub in and trashing everything out of the dumpster onto the ground. She looked around, obviously wondering why the dumpster was gone, then left.

I'm sure there will be some problems and trash left on the ground, but so far, so good. Now I need to get through a weekend!

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Keep us informed this is very interesting

 

[water guy]

Please Do

 

[soonermajic]

Was there for 35 minutes today, & got into it with 2 NON- paying dumpers

 

[Sequoia]

The dumpster was removed last Wednesday.

I was working at the wash most of the day on Wed and Thu. I saw about 6 vehicles who entered the wash, v-e-r-y slowly pulled through and around to the back, looked around, and then left. I'm pretty sure these were trash dumpers. But there was no dumpster, plus they saw me there doing obvious maintenance activity.

So no trash received through Friday, with me wondering about the weekend. I have no attendant on weekends, which means no dumpster, and no one there to watch things. The surprise result? No trash received.

I expect that some future problem situations with trash will arise, but so far, in the first 5 days with no dumpster or trash cans at all, the results seem positive. The bear was in a few nights ago, and if the dumpster was there, it would have been "trash everywhere." All she saw in this visit were leaves on the ground- no household trash and food to paw through.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

LOL, I though when you said mama bear you were talking about this "customer":

 

[Sequoia]

Geez that's quite a picture!

I've monitored video of my dumpster for the past month. In addition to the actual "bear," it also attract many "creatures of the night." Two legged varmits who dive for trash and treasure. Some of who like hanging out at the car wash so much at night, that they come back during the day.

The dumpster is a magnet for trouble. It might be gone for good. But if it does come back it will be locked with metal lids.

 

[Sequoia]

It's been over a week since I removed the dumpster.

With only one exception, I have received no trash at all. The exception is someone left a small empty wastebasket in the wash bay after washing their vehicle. Later, some other customer moved it near the vacuums. While it sat near the vacuums, it collected some small trash and a small bag or two of trash adjacent to it. It was removed the next morning, and no trash received since.

Some of my problem trash dumpers seem to collect trash for a while, maybe a month, then come dump it en masse. So the absence of a dumpster hasn't been fully tested against those dirtbags, but the initial results seem very positive. I believe the locals who regularly came by to drop a bag or two of trash are having to re-route their activity to someone else's dumpster.

A side benefit is the two legged night creatures who used to sift and sort through the dumpster. They have vanished. So my night surveillance camera "motion detect" is mostly asleep anymore. Although it did catch a raccoon on the property late last night.

 

[OurTown]

It's been over a week since I removed the dumpster.

With only one exception, I have received no trash at all. The exception is someone left a small empty wastebasket in the wash bay after washing their vehicle. Later, some other customer moved it near the vacuums. While it sat near the vacuums, it collected some small trash and a small bag or two of trash adjacent to it. It was removed the next morning, and no trash received since.

Some of my problem trash dumpers seem to collect trash for a while, maybe a month, then come dump it en masse. So the absence of a dumpster hasn't been fully tested against those dirtbags, but the initial results seem very positive. I believe the locals who regularly came by to drop a bag or two of trash are having to re-route their activity to someone else's dumpster.

A side benefit is the two legged night creatures who used to sift and sort through the dumpster. They have vanished. So my night surveillance camera "motion detect" is mostly asleep anymore. Although it did catch a raccoon on the property late last night.

Have you noticed a decrease in your vac usage?

 

[Sequoia]

Yes. Since the utility cut power off it dropped to zero!

I will watch for that ... but another change is I just added swipers to the vacs.

 

[6t7gto]

 

[water guy]

Wow that's Stupid

 

[soapy]

At my winter get away house the Republic garbage company holds a first Saturday of the month special large drop off for garbage at a selected site. They bring in 3 trucks to take large items and you have to show your garbage bill to leave anything. I think next time I catch illegal dumpers at the wash i am going to tell them we only accept public trash on the first Saturday of the month between 8 am and noon. It might take some of the edge off and back talk.

 

[Sequoia]

Update at 3 weeks with no dumpster:

To my surprise, with only one exception, I received no trash at all in 3 weeks. The local person who is at the wash every day told me yesterday he has received no complaints about no dumpster. The use of the vacuums seems constant, but I don't really have a good way to determine before and after on that to see if vac usage has dropped.

The one exception was a customer who came in at 1am (Monday morning) and left two bags of trash, right where the dumpster used to be. He drove in the back entrance, then backed up to dump off his trash. This tells me he is/was a regular trash dumper who knows the car wash layout.

The two bags did not get quickly removed from the property, which is our goal. By 11am it had grown in size to 6 bags, as two other "customers" saw trash, and added to the pile. Once those bags were removed, things resumed as before ... no trash. With no dumpster, I make people dump their trash on the ground, to start a new pile. So far only one person has started that "new pile."

I intended this to be a short term dumpster absence to break some people's habits. Now I am wondering if I should bring it back at all?

Before removing the dumpster, it was full, with trash overflowing, for three dumps per week. In three weeks, that's nine full dumpsters of trash that has found its way to go somewhere else.

I think some people in my area collect trash for a month then go dump it somewhere. So when I removed the dumpster I decided to give it two months-- then evaluate what to do. Three weeks in, removing the dumpster seems to have had good results. I admit to being a bit surprised so far.

 

[Jurven]

I have never understood people who just throw their trash on the ground. They live somewhere nearby. Is it really pleasant for them to see and breathe it every day? I think this is terrible .. I would not give up trash cans, as it is really very useful. Yes, there may be people who will come only to throw garbage, but it is better to let them do it in garbage cans than just on the ground. I recently contracted with https://dumpsterrentalkansascitymo.net/ and so they take out all the trash that accumulates in the tanks. It seems to me very convenient, although it costs little money. Thus, I manage to get rid of my own waste, as well as the garbage of people who live nearby. A similar situation will continue until the mentality of people changes. There is simply no other way out in this situation ...

 

[cooll903]

i have 2 4k cameras pointed at my dumpster and if any dump i give the plate number to the police and for the first time have a nice chat with them and 99% of the time they dont do it again. but there was this one guy that did it like three times and we ended up "pressing charges"... well at least that is what the cops told him i was going to do if he didnt come and try to make it up to me. he has been a nice clean paying customer ever since.

 

[Brakeshoe12]

I work at a wash. Not the owner. (wish I were). I maintain the washes. Trash is such a pain. I can be in a bay greasing after dumping all the trash cans. I cannot count the times I have watched cars pull in and unload. Filling up as many as 2 full drums of trash and of course missing the cans all together. I have been meaning to make the suggestion of getting rid of the trash cans. Not only do we provide cans at the vac area but also at the wash cashiers. I will be watching this topic and see how this is working out.