Cleaning garbage chutes, it is a dirty job but somebody has to do it! The rubbish chute, which encompasses the main chute, hopper doors and the garbage room below the chute, is often the most neglected part of the building yet it is the dirtiest. A neglected garbage chute can create many problems for residents, building staff and building managers.

Think about what is actually thrown down a refuse chute and the process of what happens to the garbage. Residents will often throw nappies, rotten fish, eggs, old food etc. You name it and residents have tossed it down the chute! Rubbish gathers momentum when it is thrown down a chute resulting in the garbage bags often bursting on impact when it either compacts with the side of the chute or hits the bottom of the chute. This results in filthy build up sticking to the sides of the garbage chute and the self contained compactor service below. This build up harbors dangerous bacteria detrimental to personal health. Scientists would probably have a hard time of working out the combination of bacteria! Some rubbish chutes go for years without being cleaned, imagine what harmful and dangerous nasty germs are waiting to escape each time a chute door opens.

Sick building syndrome is often related to poor air quality in a building and a dirty, smelly garbage chute can be the main cause. Think about it, every level has an opening, via the hopper doors, which lets in air from the garbage room and chute into that level. If a refuse chute smells then every level that has a hopper door will smell too and no amount of deodorant or smelling perfumes will stop the smell. The source of the smell (i.e. the build up inside the chute) has to be removed and only then will the smell vanish for good.

So how can a refuse chute be cleaned you ask? There are specialists who will clean your garbage chute often using special purpose built machines to clean the inside of the chute. Make sure you use a company that will clean the whole rubbish chute, even between floors not just on each level. Additionally they should clean the hopper doors on each level which also collect build up of dirty garbage and the company should thoroughly clean the bottom area and compactor.