Why Garbage Chutes Are a Must for High-Rise Buildings

A garbage chute, also known as a trash chute, is a huge 24 to 36-diameter tube that runs down the height of a high-rise building, through which trash is moved to a central point on the ground floor.

Garbage chutes are common in apartments as they are an efficient method of garbage collection. Most chutes have an entry for every floor of an apartment and are enclosed with a door for security reasons.

Residents only need to throw their trash bags into the chute after which the garbage moves to the bottom end of the chute using gravity.

As such, it is common to hear people talking about garbage shoots or garbage shooters instead of garbage chutes since the trash shoots (moves swiftly and suddenly) down.

Benefits of a Garbage Chute

1. Easy Disposal of Waste

Garbage chutes make it easy and convenient for occupants of upper floors to dispose of trash without having to climb down to the garbage dump.

In addition to convenience, trash chutes avoid the hazardous possibility of spills and bursting of trash bags due to poor handling and overloading.

2. Easy Sorting of Trash

Garbage chutes eliminate the need for hiring workers to collect garbage outside of flats and sort it before discarding it.

Landlords can easily install a separate chute for recyclable trash – making it easy for residents to sort their trash before shooting it into the chute.

Besides saving on hiring costs, resident-oriented sorting of trash also saves a lot of time as it allows faster conveyance of recyclable trash from a chute to a collection point and then to the recycling site.

3. High Levels of Hygiene

A garbage chute offers a more hygienic way to dispose of trash. Nobody is required to touch the garbage once it is shot down the chute. This is great considering that amassed trash is a habitat for insects, rodents and other disease carriers.

In addition, garbage chutes help to prevent bad smells in the corridors while keeping off pests and insects. They also help to keep trash away from the sight of residents at all times.

Garbage Chutes for Construction

Construction sites generate huge amounts of debris daily. These include broken bricks, stones, roofing materials leftovers, etc. Removing such waste from tall buildings can be tedious.

As such, builders often use garbage chutes to easily collect debris on every floor and deposit them into a dumpster at the bottom of the building.

Heavy-duty steel chutes are ideal for heavy deconstruction sites, while plastic garbage chutes are perfect for new construction, roof installation, and light demolition works.

Are Garbage Chutes Dangerous?

Trash chutes are safe unless neglected. Unkempt garbage chutes can become fertile breeding grounds for pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, Pseudomonas, and Stahylococci Aureus.

They are also a great habitat for dangerous pathogenic molds that can invade the human respiratory tract and cause life-threatening complications.

A dirty trash chute, and one whose doors cannot close or latch automatically, is a fire hazard. Studies have shown that the sludge inside of a chute is flammable even at temperatures as low as 180 degrees.

Garbage chutes with faulty doors and blocked air vents can create a wind tunnel effect during a fire incident – guiding the fire up and down the building.

It is advisable to keep your chute clean and to fix doors that do not close properly.

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