ACCOMMODATION MANAGEMENT

2.3. Stating Environmental Hygiene requirements during Operations

Waste Disposal
Waste disposal is a growing problem worldwide. Although there have been recent advancements in waste disposal, it remains an overall public safety and environmental health issue that countries around the world continue to address.
Prevention and Reduction
The best method of managing waste is prevention and reduction, which can be achieved in a number of ways like recycling and making use of secondhand items.
 Energy Recovery
Energy recovery is a promising form of waste disposal. It works by recycling some forms of waste into a fuel source for heating, cooking and powering turbines.
 Biological Reprocessing
Biological reprocessing methods such as composting can be used for organic waste like food, paper and plant material.
 Sanitary Landfill
Sanitary landfill disposal is convenient but may experience a lot of growth and require manpower to maintain.
 Incineration
Incineration is popular due to the minimal land available for disposal, but there is some concern about the release of micro-pollutants like dioxins from incinerator stacks.
 Ocean Dumping
Controversy surrounds ocean dumping as a waste disposal method. Although the waste may provide nutrients for some sea life, it's widely believed that the harmful effects would outweigh any benefits.
 Feeding animals
Guidelines for Disposal of Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste has immediate or long-term risks to humans, animals, plants or the environment. Because of this, it is unsafe to dispose it with general waste and needs specific disposal methods. Identifying the most common types of household and business hazardous wastes is the first step.
Knowing the basic guidelines of disposal will make it easier for you to protect yourself, your family and our environment.
Household Hazardous Waste
House hold waste is considered hazardous if it is labeled toxic, ignitable, corrosive or reactive. Some of the common ones are gasoline, brake and windshield wiper fluid, cleaning products, creosote products, paints, paint thinners, pesticides and herbicides.
Business Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste from business is waste from medical, nursing, dental, veterinary or pharmaceutical practices. These often include needles, human tissue, body fluids or blood, laboratory specimens or cultures, carcasses, laboratory equipment, chemical and radioactive waste.
Identification and Packaging
Keep household hazardous waste in their original containers and do not mix it with different products. If you are forced to move products from their original containers for storage, label the new containers carefully for future identification.
Hazardous waste from business needs to be packed in plastic bags or containers that are easily identified by the color coding identifying the type of waste inside them.
Biohazardous waste is packed in yellow containers or plastic bags with the black international biohazard symbol on them.
Radioactive waste is packed in red plastic bags or containers with the black international radioactive symbol
Cell toxic waste, also called cytotoxic waste, is packed in violet plastic bags or containers labeled with the international cell toxic waste symbol.
Storage
Keep all flammable products out of direct sunlight and away from heat, sparks or flames.
Store all containers in an upright position in a cardboard box instead of plastic bags and place leaking containers in a larger plastic container with a tight-fitting lid.
All hazardous waste generated by business needs to be stored in a safe and secure location. Waste identified as high or extremely risky should not be stored with the rest of hazardous waste. This kind of waste needs to be picked up by special arrangement, possibly outside of the regular hazardous waste pickup.
Disposal
The safest way to dispose of household hazardous waste is to either contact a hazardous waste pickup company in your community or bring it to a household hazardous waste collection site if one exists. Depending on where you live both services might have a fee. It is, however, illegal to leave hazardous waste for curbside pickup.
Hazardous waste generated by businesses is collected and disposed by an authorized waste contractor who will collect the waste on a scheduled date from the designated location.
Control of pests and rodents Control of Pests
Pest control refers to the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest, usually because it is perceived to be detrimental to a person's health, the ecology or the economy.
Pests are beneficial as well as a curse to mankind. Animals, bacteria and some insects are beneficial to people in many ways, but the same time they can also be pests. Pests such as rats, ants, cockroaches, mice and flies are common in houses and apartments. There should be an effective pest control to prevent pests in multiplying themselves in houses, which include effective pest management, pest control and pest prevention.
Pest Management
The best and most effective way for controlling pests is pest management which includes many steps.
The first and most important step in Pest Control is to identify the pest problem. This includes finding out exactly what you are up against. Some pests (bacteria, animals) are really helpful to people, so it is very important to find out any harmful pests.
The second thing is to decide how much pest control is necessary. Only the family who live in the affected area can judge how serious it is to take action.
The third thing is to choose an available option for pest control such as chemical pest control or non chemical pest control.
You can control pests by many means; some of the options available are:-
 Non Chemical pest control
 Chemical pest control
 Biological Methods
Non-chemical methods of pest control
The range of non-chemical options available may vary with the pest species, pest intensity or severity, and effectiveness of the option. Several key non-chemical options that may help reduce the amount of pesticides used in and around homes are listed below. However, it is important to realize that for effective use of non-chemical methods, an understanding of pest biology, ecology, and behaviour is essential. Such an understanding is not always required when using synthetic pesticides.
 Exclusion: Any measure used to prevent entry of organisms indoors through openings in the building structure, doors, windows, or on infested plant or food materials. Some techniques include screening openings to prevent entry of flies, mosquitoes, and beetles; caulking cracks and crevices to remove existing or potential harborages of pantry pests and cockroaches; and sealing or repairing exterior openings to prevent entry of bats, mice, bees, and wasps. Plants and food products must be carefully inspected for infestations at the time of purchase and before they are brought indoors.
 Sanitation: Maintaining clean surroundings both outdoors and indoors removes potential areas where pests can feed, breed, and hide. Sanitary measures include: disposing of garbage on a weekly basis during warm weather to control filth flies and cockroaches; discarding overripe fruits to control fruit flies and fungus beetles; removing bird nests as these harbor dermestids, clothes moths, mites, and lice; and vacuuming to reduce populations of fleas, carpet beetles, house dust mites, and several ground-dwelling insects and insect relatives. It is also important to keep kitchen areas clean to reduce incidence of pantry pests and cockroaches.
 Habitat modification: Includes any method used to eliminate or disrupt areas where pests reside. For example, removing weeds and keeping well-mowed lawns reduces incidence of crickets and ticks. Removing debris and fallen leaves near foundations reduces bug and centipede populations. Wood or wooden piles, where carpenter ants, ground beetles, and spiders seek harborage, must be stored away from structures. Creating a vegetation-free barrier around the perimeter of the building will reduce incidence of many ground-dwelling pests such as clover mites. The use of dehumidifiers is recommended, especially in basements, to create and maintain a dry environment to discourage incidence of sowbugs, centipedes, firebrats, and house dust mites.
 Temperature control: Artificially manipulating the temperature of substrates infested by pests or areas where pests reside is an inexpensive nonchemical strategy. The time from treatment to death of a pest and numbers of the pest killed, may vary with the pest stage, temperature, and duration of exposure. Pantry pests, clothes moths, and carpet beetles can be eliminated by subjecting infested foods, clothes, and carpets, respectively, to extremely hot or cold temperatures. In general, all developmental stages of pantry pests, clothes moths, and carpet beetles can be killed within minutes to hours when exposed to temperatures below 32° F and above 104° F.
 Mechanical control: A rolled newspaper or magazine and fly swatters are some tools
used for killing visible and less mobile or immobile pests. On infested plants, hand-picking insects
(e.g., hornworms) is a partially effective means of pest control. Infested leaves must be excised from plants, bagged, and discarded.
 Traps: Traps are escape-proof devices that capture highly mobile and active pests. Live traps can be used for rabbits, pocket gophers, and squirrels. Unbaited sticky traps such as red spheres, resembling apples, are useful for trapping apple maggot adults. Colored (yellow) sticky traps are effective in capturing whiteflies and aphids. Sticky traps can be baited with commercial lures (pheromones and food attractants) to enhance trap catch. For example, sticky traps baited with lures for pantry pests, wasps, and flies are commercially available.
Traps are useful for early detection and continuous monitoring of infestations. They are not effective in reducing populations unless the pest population is isolated or confined to a small area. The chance of detecting the presence of pests in a given area is related to the number of traps used. Therefore, when pests are present in very low numbers, it is advantageous to use more than a few traps. Pests must be active or mobile to be captured in traps. Therefore, any environmental variable (temperature, humidity, wind, light, or food) or biological factor (age, sex, mating status, etc.) that influence pest activity, affects trap catch. Consequently, absence of pests in traps does not imply that the pests are not present in the sampled area.
Chemical Pest Control
Another good solution for pest control is the use of chemical pesticides. It is not advisable in and around the home and commercial premises, as it will affect people adversely. The major drawback of this method is that the results of the chemical pesticides treatment are generally temporary, therefore the need for repeated treatments. If used incorrectly, home-use pesticides can be poisonous to humans. While you are using chemical pesticides for pest control, the most important thing to remember is to take care in choosing the right pesticide product.
Biological Pest Control
Another effective way in controlling pests is using the biological method. This is the method of using pest's natural enemies to control them. Spiders, centipedes, ground beetles and ants are some of the beneficial bugs. This method is not harmful to people in any means and can be implemented effectively.
Rodent Control
Rodents (rats and mice) live in the environment we create for them. They will eat almost any foodstuff, which can include bird and pet foods, vegetables stored in outdoor sheds, peelings that are added to open compost bins and household garbage that is not adequately secured.
It is a myth that rodents only exist in dirty environments, as all they require is a source of food, water and a safe place to nest. Rodents usually live within 15.25 to 45.75 metres (50 to 150 feet) or their food source. Nesting burrows are often found in areas not frequented by humans, such as:
 in and around open compost bins (even if it only contains grass clippings). Compost bins can be screened to help exclude rodents and if properly maintained should not be a problem.
 in woodpiles.
 under storage sheds and storage piles.
 in non-maintained yard areas.
 in refuse storage areas.
The most common methods of rodent control are through the use of traps and anticoagulant baits.
Traps: Rodents are wary of new things in their environment. Place traps against perimeter walls (perpendicular) so that rodents will have to walk overtop of the release mechanism. Baits that work well include hot dog wieners or peanut butter. Make sure the baits are fresh. It can be helpful to bait the trap without setting it until rodents are used to coming to it for food. After they are coming to the trap you can set it with more confidence.
Baits: Anticoagulant baits can be toxic to humans and pets as well as rodents. They should always be contained in a tamper-proof bait station. Poison baits should not be used indoors as inaccessible decaying rodents can cause odour problems that are difficult to resolve.
If you find dead rodents in the yard, dispose of them as quickly as possible by picking them up with a shovel and placing them in a transparent green bag. It can be set out with your regular waste.
Rodent Control Responsibility
The responsibility for rodent control rests with the landowner. The pest control officer can assist with property inspection and make recommendations for by-law enforcement if required. Tenants are protected through minimum standards by-laws but are encouraged to cooperate with their landlords by ensuring good housekeeping