Why More Municipalities Are Using Garbage Totes For Trash Collection

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Why More Municipalities Are Using Garbage Totes For Trash Collection

14 April 2016
 Categories: , Blog


Rats have been getting a lot of attention lately in two villages in Western New York -- Lancaster and Hamburg. The rats have moved into these communities because many of the surrounding towns and villages have outlawed people throwing trash away in plastic garbage bags and uncovered cans. Those towns and villages have bought totes for the residents to use that rats can't get into. This has made the rats looks elsewhere for food. Now, Lancaster and Hamburg are looking into using totes for trash removal. Here is why the new garbage totes are becoming so popular ad how they help to repel rats.

Structure of Totes

The totes are made of a heavy plastic that rats have trouble eating through to get to the garbage inside it. The totes also have an attached lid that you need to flip open to put your trash into it. The lid cannot get blown off on a windy day like the unattached lid on many traditional garbage cans. Rats can climb up the side of traditional cans and get inside them to eat the garbage when the lid blows off. Rats also can't lift up on the heavy tight-fitting lids like they can with a loose fitting garbage can lids. This provides an additional barrier to rats entering the totes.

The totes are also heavier at the bottom than they are at the top. This keeps the tote from tipping over and spilling garbage all over your driveway on windy days. Garbage on the ground is a smorgasbord for a rat.

Tote Usage

The plastic totes also make garbage handling and removal much easier. A garbage tote has two wheels on it. All you have to do is tilt the tote backward and wheel it to the street. 

There is a small metal bar built into the front of the tote. A garbage truck pulls up next to the tote and a refuse collection worker positions the tote so it can be picked up by a mechanism on the garbage truck. The mechanism is like an arm that reaches down and hooks onto the metal the bar. The mechanical arm then lifts up the tote and tips it over into the large bin on the garbage truck. This reduces the amount of spillage onto the street that often happens when the refuse collection workers have to manhandle traditional garbage cans up to the edge of the garbage bin and physically tip the cans over to deposit the garbage inside of them. Oftentimes, garbage will fall over the lip of the bin and onto the street where rats can get at it.

Large garbage totes are becoming popular because they are easier to handle than traditional garbage cans and because they are much more effective at preventing rats from getting at the food in the trash cans. This reduces the rat population and makes the surviving rats look elsewhere for food. Talk to a company like B-P Trucking Inc for more information on options for trash removal.

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