The pandemic has devastating for many local businesses. But for those in the dumpster and junk removal industry, it's been busy beyond belief.
Big Yellow Bins owner Darcey Mullen says he was fearful for his company’s future when the pandemic began.
“When COVID hit, I was scared. We have bills and truck payments. That’s not including my boys, the fuel, insurance and everything else … I thought, 'This is going to be bad',” Mullen said.
Thankfully, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
Big Yellow Bins, which operates out of Coldwater and serves all of Simcoe County, has had all 400 of its dumpsters fully booked since the beginning of the pandemic.
Through the month of March, Big Yellow Bins saw a 300 per cent increase in dumpster rentals. It was 250 per cent higher in April. Overall, the company is on track to be 200 to 300 per cent over last year’s total.
“When COVID hit, we really blew up. People hoarded toilet paper and everyone ordered a dumpster. I don’t get it,” Mullen said with a chuckle.
“We are a week out before I could get you a dumpster. It’s really weird; it’s almost become a privilege to book a Big Yellow Bin,” he said.
Mullen said his staff’s customer service skills and hard work are among the reasons for the spike in business. In fact, he is considering adding another 300 dumpsters to his stock and hiring more staff to keep up with the demand.
Clarkson Bins and Junk Removal Ltd., based out of Midhurst, also serves Simcoe County and has also seen a major spike in dumpster rentals.
“People saw the projects that maybe they had been putting off for a couple of years and all of a sudden had the motivation and time to get them done,” said owner Jim Clarkson.
Clarkson believes renting a dumpster and doing some home cleaning projects or renovations are a way for people to cope with the pandemic.
"People needed some positivity in March, April and into May. Sometimes cleaning up and de-cluttering gives you that feeling of accomplishment and your home feels neater, tidier and it makes for a space that you want to spend more time in,” he explained.
Dumpster rentals might have been the saving grace for his company.
Some contractors and renovators the business relies on were put out of work by COVID-19. The surge in homeowner rentals put the company up about 50 per cent in rentals over last year.
“The spike was purely related to homeowners cleaning up their properties. It was nice that the customers were needing us and we could be there for them,” Clarkson said.
Bin There Dump That Simcoe is another dumpster rental option based out of Orillia, Barrie and Midland that serves all of Simcoe County.
Co-owner Mark Crossett says bin rentals were up 20 per cent during the pandemic compared to last year. Crossett says the homeowners stepped up to fill the void in business left by contractors being mandated to stay home during a brief stint in March.
“What we experienced was just a big shift from our contractor business to our homeowner business,” said Crossett. “Whatever contractor business we would have had has been filled by the homeowners, for sure.”
Business is starting to even out for Bin There Dump That now that contractors are back to work and homeowners are wrapping up their renovations.
“It’s been good. We are very blessed to have business throughout the pandemic and it has allowed us to keep our employees employed, which is the main thing,” Crossett said.
