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Homelessness is both a crisis and epidemic that tens of thousands of Californians are experiencing. In fact, California is home to 30% of all of the United States homeless population. With few options, the homeless population typically dwells in tents (known as “encampments”) set up in parks, along roads, and near shopping strips. Unfortunately, the influx of homeless encampments result in a drastic increase in trash and waste that threatens the safety of you and your neighborhood, such as needles, fentanyl, and disease.
When you are dealing with any dangerous and hazardous materials, it is in your best interest to contact an experienced waste removal company. Our team at HCI have been successfully and safely removing hazardous materials from homeless encampments for almost twenty years. If you’d like to learn how to get rid of homeless encampments near you and the environmental harm that they pose, continue reading.
How To Get Rid Of Homeless Encampments: HCI Removes The Waste
HCI technicians effectively remove waste in a manner that complies with state and federal law, is time-sensitive, and that respects the people who are in a housing transition. To remove waste and other HAZMAT materials, HCI may do one or more of the following:
Demolish buildings storing soiled clothing, drugs, debris, human excrement, etc.
Gather and dispose of small amounts of debris
Transport waste
Respond to a trauma scene
Demolish Buildings Housing HAZMAT Materials
Sometimes, people experiencing homelessness will reside in abandoned buildings. These buildings may be unsightly and dilapidated. Even worse than their appearance, however, are the threats these buildings pose to your neighborhood. For example, buildings where homeless people reside tend to breed easily-transferable diseases and airborne pathogens. Feces, urine, and blood likely stain the soiled clothing that dwellers abandon inside or store, aiding to the spread and transfer of HIV/Aids, norovirus, hepatitis A, and other viruses. Such buildings are also known to spread airborne viruses that may cause flu-like symptoms, including stomach aches and severe headaches. For these reasons, we’ll clean up these buildings and other structures that carry these risks.
HCI Environmental technicians also make the best use out of any bio-hazardous materials recovered by recycling them. The bio-hazardous materials at homeless encampment buildings can trail into waterways, thus contaminating the water supply, and blow onto the street where small animals or children may come into contact with them. Fortunately, we’re not only reducing water and land pollution when we recycle recovered bio-hazardous items, we’re reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions (you know-those gasses that play a key role in wildfires and droughts) they create.
Dispose of Debris
If you have ever walked or driven past a cluster of tents for homeless people, then you have seen small or large amounts of debris surrounding these polyester erections. Naturally, people who are in a housing transition do not have closets and drawers to store their possessions. Neither do they have refrigerators and trash bins for food. And–when you think about it–certain items don’t mean much longterm when you’re trying to survive and keep your essentials on you. The result? Many homeless people will leave behind empty water bottles and soda cans, abandoned bicycles and tires, or even some shoes and clothes that no longer fit the season.
Although the debris is understandable, it is still harmful to the environment. In 2023, some of the debris is bound to include fentanyl and other drugs due to the opioid epidemic. After all, in 2021 alone, nearly 6000 California residents overdosed on fentanyl, including many people who were homeless. The debris, like fentanyl-contaminated tissues or similar objects, left behind cannot be left to chance or to inept waste-disposal facilities.
Waste-disposal facilities are significant to decreasing the influx of harm brought on by homeless tents in Southwestern California. HCI Environmental makes use of only the best licensed and insured waste-disposal facilities not just for our benefit–but also for yours. We value you as customers, so we only work through the most protected facilities and programs to minimize any potential risk you may encounter.
Transport Waste
Transporting waste is similar to disposing of waste. When HCI Environmental transports waste, we’re looking to remove hazardous and biohazardous materials from the area to reduce pollution and the spread of disease. We take the same precautions with transporting waste as we would with waste disposal. As with waste disposal, we only use licensed and insured facilities. To ensure that no further bacteria is spread or chemicals spilled during our transport, we ensure that our drivers are licensed professionals with a remarkable driving record.
Clean Up Trauma Scenes
People living in encampments may die from natural occurrences, a physical altercation, or an overdose. The police, however, do not clean up what is left behind following this death. You see, a trauma scene at a homeless encampment may expose the population to bloodborne pathogens, deadly chemicals, Covid-19, or similar health hazards. That’s why the cleaning process is our job because, regardless of how the trauma occurred, detailed care needs to be taken to ensure hazardous materials are properly retrieved and discarded. Our HCI Environmental technicians are all certified to clean and remove bodily fluids (e.g., blood) from death scenes, including those that occur at homeless encampments that can spread to nearby areas.
Learn from Our Team at HCI Environmental
What you have read above is just an inkling of the services HCI Environmental can provide to reduce the concerns stirred by homelessness in Southern California. We at HCI Environmental realize that homelessness is not a choice, so we are sensitive to the population in how we conduct our services. Our aim is to offer you the best waste removal service in town without compromising your or our safety, and while working with (not against) the people who are in a transition. We believe in clear communication to further support a clean environment for your neighborhood or business and homeless population.
For inquiries on how to utilize our services, contact us here. We are available 24/7 every day of the year, including holidays. You can also call us toll free at (866)762-0934 or at (951)280-0298.