Property management companies are paying attention to budget-friendly, conscientious junk removal to meet diversion mandates to gain LEED certification or for meeting state or local guidelines.

By Paul Bergeron

Challenges involving the proper removal of bulk junk, non-traditional waste products and organics continue to mount for commercial real estate operators, particularly those managing apartment buildings and retail space.

Waste-removal service companies’ inconsistency in performance and expense is complicating the operations side of this necessary responsibility.

Conscientious property groups with sustainability goals in mind continue to seek reliable and efficient methods for these services to help their landfill-diversion goals and maintain acceptable curb appeal.

“Bulk-item removal has been really difficult because of lack of viable donation outlets and reuse consumers,” says Sydney Mainster, vice-president of sustainability for The Durst Organization, a family-run real-estate company. “It’s a lot of labor to handle, and oftentimes we need it removed quickly, whereas the end user may take weeks or months to identify. Also, we’ve often had to use our own in-house labor, even when donating items like furniture.”

Junk Removal That’s Calm, Cool, Collected

CheckSammy is a growing national company that provides same-day, on-demand removal services as well as monthly subscription-based service at a flat-rate.

“Junk hauling is the reactive, often problematic segment of the apartment industry’s waste hauling process,” says Cameron Funk, Vendor Relations Manager, Cass Waste Expense Management, Jacksonville. Funk manages thousands of residential real estate waste-management accounts nationwide.

“A community could have two move-outs on a given Monday and nothing else the rest of the month,” Funk says. “This causes complications for onsite management teams when budgeting costs and scheduling pickups. There’s no normality to it. Depending on the market, you’ll get different haulers at different rates at different times.”

Mainster says that more than anything, it saves on staff labor. “It also minimizes how many times someone has to move an item. If we have to move large items in house, someone from the building has to move a couch, for example, from the apartment to the basement for storage. Then, when it is either discarded or donated, that piece of furniture has to be handled a second time. With this service, it’s both removed from the apartment and from the building site at the same time.”

CheckSammy contracts locally with its staff, who are trained on the art of junk collection. They are currently the only company in the U.S. doing this. Offering a monthly subscription rate is far better than working through franchised waste haulers, who are generally less reliable and can be costlier.

“They make the entire process just a little bit smoother and that can go a long way economically and logistically,” Funk says.

Property managers say the predictability of its services takes some of the logistical and budgetary stress out of the process. Because the service does not involve franchises, it provides significant cost savings because no marketing charges are passed along to customers, the company says.

Remove That Eyesore

Junk hauling often can become a curb-appeal hazard for a community.

“A leasing staff doesn’t want to show an apartment with old mattresses laying outside,” Funk says. “If they are having to wait for a pick-up, they might as well have to set up an open-top container, but that’s not ideal, either. In a crowded area, it can come down to a space issue. With CheckSammy, you know they are going to show up when they say they are. The junk won’t linger.”

Junk-removal hurdles are becoming more prevalent during this uptick in apartment-home clear-outs, often required for residents who abandon possessions following a move-out or an eviction.

“Being able to resolve and remove junk/bulk in a timely manner while having a simplified pricing structure is essential to client satisfaction,” Funk says.

Satisfying Diversion-Data Goals

A company he’s used for about a year, its data collection has also been beneficial, particularly for apartment owners and managers who are tracking diversion percentage, Funk says, as well as those needing to meet the growing number of local areas where metrics are mandated.

“Instead of getting a percentage estimate for diversion rates, you get the exact number,” Funk says. “This is very helpful for apartment firms looking to gain LEED certification or for meeting state or local guidelines.”

The data-collection process, which includes photos of the bins for each pickup, are more granular than most, Funk says. “For commercial clients, for example, if they are seeing the same widget showing up in 70 percent of the pickups, this is a signal to them that maybe they don’t need to be making so many of that widget,” Funk says.

“You can tell that CheckSammy invested a lot of time and money in data collection for its product. This data can then be fed into our propriety software as well as Microsoft Power BI analytics tool. Clients love the visibility and insight that is able to provide.”

Mainster says the data transparency about where these items actually end up once they’re removed through this process is important for integrity and upholding company values.

“We don’t just want it gone and forgotten about – we want to make sure it’s recycled or, ideally, reused when it leaves our buildings,” she says.

CheckSammy is being described as the next-generation sustainability solution for the waste industry, offering not only bulk junk/sustainability services but key data, by providing verified reporting that allows clients to meet or exceed their owners’ and investors’ sustainability metrics.

 “Until now, no one had visibility into their bulk-junk spend, volumes, seasonality, and tracking for end of life and sustainability metrics,” says Sam Scoten, company CEO. “Through our software, we are able to generate detailed quarterly reporting, showcasing not only sustainability metrics, but spend and photos, and all backed by real-time verified data,” Scoten explains.

The provider’s streamlined reporting has eased such data-collection efforts for sustainability in areas such as Dallas, Fort Worth, and throughout California, and other municipalities around the country.

For Most, this is ‘Serious’

Mainster says Durst “takes diverting recyclable or compostable items from landfill seriously.”

How seriously? Durst offer organics collection for composting at no charge to all commercial tenants at its office buildings and to all residents at its multifamily buildings.

“We continue to offer organics collection through a private hauler at the apartment properties, even though DSNY has halted its city-wide organics program,” Mainster says. “We also offer battery recycling, light bulb recycling, e-waste collection and recycling, and bulk-removal options at our commercial properties. At our multifamily buildings, we collect batteries, e-waste, light bulbs and textiles for recycling.”

Mainster says her company has struggled with bulk removal at its commercial properties and residential buildings due to timing, lack of adequate storage, labor requirements and lack of viable outlets for items such as office furniture and sofas.

“A company that provides professional labor for removal, storage, and transparent outlets for bulks items and goods is in theory, an ideal solution,” she says.

Funk says he’s used CheckSammy in other collections verticals, such as shopping malls. “The good thing about it is that it’s a system that is set up that can work in any vertical,” he says.

About the author:

Paul Bergeron has been reporting on the apartment industry since 2002 and served 20 years as Editor in Chief for National Apartment Association’s UNITS magazine. He currently is Editor of his LinkedIn media platform Thought Leadership Today and can be reached at pbergeron333@gmail.com.

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