Bin shed problems.

DoozerT6

Those of you in apartments, how have you managed to deal with abuse of your bin sheds? The small bin shed in our development is always overflowing and filled to capacity with beds (double divan bases and mattresses!) and other large household items like desks etc, bags of rubbish thrown carelessly on the floor instead of in the skips. Dirty nappies rolling everywhere. HUGE amounts of black bags. I know bin sheds aren't the most glam places at the best of times, but I'm always left feeling like I need a chemical shower after being near our one.

I have strong suspicions that some residents are letting their friends come and use the bin shed so the friend doesn't have to pay for their own rubbish collection. I don't know which residents - or should I say tenants - do this, but due to the sheer amount of rubbish that is in our shed at all times, I have no doubt it goes on. Our rubbish, to my knowledge, is collected regularly but the shed fills up again literally overnight.

Currently we have a keypad with a code to get into the shed, but all it takes is one resident to tell one friend the code and it's a free for all.

I have brought this to the attention of the management company in the past who have had the shed cleared out numerous times, and realistically we both know that it can't be easily stopped - but do any boardsies have any experience in managing to stamp this behaviour out? Thankfully because 'they' seem to have no problem accessing the inside of the shed, we don't have rubbish piled up outside.

For the record, I don't think CCTV would be an option - who would monitor it?

Thoughts/suggestions?

Ken.

Change the keypad to a fob system with one fob per house. Let it be known that records will be checked regularly.

athtrasna

Also get a newsletter issued to all units that bin sheds are being monitored and anyone found abusing the facility will be invoiced for the costs of disposal. Another thing that may be worth including is that fees will be increased to cover dumping and encourage people to report incidents of dumping.

DoozerT6

I did think of suggesting something like a fob system myself, but unfortunately if residents are letting their friends use the shed, then they will probably just 'fob' them in too.

DoozerT6

athtrasna wrote: »

Also get a newsletter issued to all units that bin sheds are being monitored and anyone found abusing the facility will be invoiced for the costs of disposal. Another thing that may be worth including is that fees will be increased to cover dumping and encourage people to report incidents of dumping.

As one of the few owner/occupiers in my block, I would rather not go down the road of increasing management fees!! :D:D

athtrasna

DoozerT6 wrote: »

As one of the few owner/occupiers in my block, I would rather not go down the road of increasing management fees!! :D:D

Saying it may encourage people to speak up. We did that and someone came forward to say that a neighbour who worked in a restaurant was bringing all the restaurant waste home several nights a week. Letter went to landlord, dumping stopped.

Kensington

DoozerT6 wrote: »

I did think of suggesting something like a fob system myself, but unfortunately if residents are letting their friends use the shed, then they will probably just 'fob' them in too.

Yup but an apartment with 2 people fobbing in multiple times per day would be unusual. As would nocturnal bin trips.

DoozerT6

athtrasna wrote: »

Saying it may encourage people to speak up. We did that and someone came forward to say that a neighbour who worked in a restaurant was bringing all the restaurant waste home several nights a week. Letter went to landlord, dumping stopped.

Thanks athtrasna, it might be something to suggest. Notes like this have been circulated before, and the code for the door has been changed a couple of times, but the problem persists.

Part of me would love to stake the shed out some night with a couple of burly men, catch someone in the act, and then follow them home with their rubbish bags, knock on their door and say ' I think you dropped this!' *smile*

DoozerT6

Kensington wrote: »

Yup but an apartment with 2 people fobbing in multiple times per day would be unusual. As would nocturnal bin trips.

True that.....

Mongfinder General

I see this all the time. Bins, (a lot of restaurant waste) just dumped outside bin shed, not even inside. It's pretty easy to get away with. Anybody with a brain will make sure that there is nothing in the rubbish that can identify them. They won't drive near the bin she'd so that the car reg won't be picked up on cctv. Dark clothing and a hat will usually provide enough cover to prevent identification. Waste is an expensive business and a lot of people will take the time to dump it at somebody else's expense

Toots

We had a problem with that in our complex, the bin sheds had keys and a lock like what you'd have on your front door. It looked like some people were having keys cut for friends and family, etc. So CCTV was installed at all the bin sheds, then each apartment was issued with 2 fobs - the fobs allowed you in the front door of your building and also access the bin sheds. Additional fobs were available for €40 each. The fobs were traceable, so you can see who has been accessing the bin sheds and at what time, so with that combined with the CCTV, the problem has pretty much stopped.