Take out the paper and the trash

As I was writing this post I listened to the song Yakety Yak by The Coasters for motivation on writing about taking out the trash. It's a good laugh.... Listen to it here ---------- >

You'll be surprised by how much trash one person can generate in a week! It always surprises me!

As a host you have a few options when it comes to managing trash collection.

Step 1

Determine what the trash collection requirements are in your neighborhood. You will need to know:

1. One what day of the week will trash be collected?

2. Where does the trash need to be placed?

3. In some counties in the US the law prohibits you from keeping an empty trash can out on the street overnight. You can be fined. So be sure to check your local laws.

4. Determine where you nearest trach collection center is located (i.e. the dumping grounds), what the operating hours are and what cost there is if any for disposing trash there.

Step 2

Determine how you want to handle trash collection. You really only have 2 options for guests: DIY (Do It Yourself) or DFY (Do It For You). Let's look at each.

DIY Trash Collection

Here you expect the guest to be responsible enough to take care of the trashcan. You will need to ask them politely to take the trash out and bring the empty trash can back. Here is some wording that I use at my single family homes that you can adapt.

Trash collection is on Tuesdays. So if you have the pleasure of staying overnight on a Monday, please be sure to roll the big exterior trash can to the side of the street on Monday. Please return the trashcan to the side of the house after the trash has been collected.

I've not yet had a problem with this, and my guests have been pretty compliant in doing this as this is part of their regular routine at home. Now, however this only works if you have a guest there on the appropriate days.

I always prefer this method, because I do not want to invade the privacy of my guests just to take out the trash for them.

DFY Trash Collection

You can take care of trash collection yourself, but this means invading the guests privacy. So there is a fine line to walk. Typically if I have to do this, I send my guest a message in advance, something like...

Hi {insert name}. Tomorrow is trash collection and I'll be swinging by today to put the trash can out on the street, and will be by tomorrow night to return it. Please let me know if you have any questions/concerns.

If I know the exact time that I plan on being there I may insert that information. But usually I just automate this communication if my team is handling trash collection for that property.

No guests?

I think this goes without saying but if you have no guests on the property it's your responsibility to put the trash out.

Trash collection site

I've had a few times where the guests made so much trash that it did not fit into the trash can after they left, or I didn't want the trashcan to be full and stinky with my next guest checking in. In these situations, I've loaded the trash bags into the back of my car and dropped them off myself at the trash collection center.

Paid for service

If you're using a cleaning service/company they may have options where they will dispose of the trash for you. This is ideal, because then you never have to worry about trash removal. But these types of services can get pricey.

If you don't live near the property or don't want to have the hassle of coordinating trash removal, then the best option is to have your cleaners handle it for you.

Conclusion

There are several options here for you to consider, but you'll need to determine what works best for your workflow and your staff. When I first started off I did everything myself. Then as I started getting more staff involved, I farmed this chore out.

I usually rely on guests to take out the trash, but have my cleaning staff as backup to remove the trash if the guest did not follow through.

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Too da loo

Linda