What is Sanitation and How is it Related to Integrated Pest Management?
Sanitation is the practice of properly cleaning and maintaining space. It can help prevent the spread of illness, but also safeguard against species of pests looking to invade your area. Practicing sanitation can look a lot of different ways for different companies or homeowners. However, the most important thing is to maintain regular sanitization that works best for you, your company, or your home. Proper sanitization can be a great preemptive form of pest control, just like IPM pest control methods.
Integrated Pest Management is an effective form of pest control that emphasizes environmental balance and deemphasizes pesticide usage. Many times, IPM techniques focus on prevention, stopping pest problems before they even start. Which is exactly why proper sanitization is used as an IPM pest control method. Keeping your property clean and well sanitized can significantly reduce the chances of any type of pest infestation occurring.
Commercial Sanitation
Commercial sanitation is essential for a wide variety of different businesses. One of the most crucial places that absolutely must sanitize regularly is in commercial kitchens. Any industry dealing with food production and food sources is at high-risk for insect pest control issues. A whole range of pests, including roaches, ants, and flies, flock to kitchen areas. Leftover food scraps and grease on appliances can attract these pests, as well as sweets and sugars built up on surfaces. Make sure to sanitize daily by keeping the exterior of grease traps clean, removing garbage, and wiping down all surfaces.
Another commercial space that requires frequent sanitization is in commercial common areas. These high-traffic areas, such as a break room, lobby, or any other public common area of a business or apartment complex, can attract a lot of attention from pests. If there are any dumpster areas, carefully sanitize them and ensure they are kept clean. Unattended garbage can easily draw in countless different types of pests. Other common areas, such as pool areas or laundry rooms, should undergo regular maintenance
Residential Sanitation
It’s not just commercial properties that require frequent sanitization. Homeowners should also have sanitation plans and routines to follow so that they can prevent serious pest problems from occurring. After all, the last thing you want in your home is a bunch of uninvited pests. So, in order to keep pests away, you’ll want to sanitize all areas of your home. But what exactly does residential sanitation look like?
To start, sanitize all surfaces, especially areas where food is located. Your home’s kitchen should always be kept clean. Sweep, vacuum, and wipe up any mess. Even just a small spill or a few scraps of food on the ground can cause a big pest problem. Garbage should be regularly collected and removed from your property, in order to get rid of a potential pest food source. Garbage containers should also be cleaned to remove any leftover substances. It’s also important to routinely clean any trash areas as well. If any of your indoor or outdoor foliage bears fruit, pick up any produce that falls. Fruit is highly appetizing to all types of pests and can bring pest populations running in.
For rodents especially, be sure to remove access to any of their basic needs. This includes food, water, and shelter that they can get in your home. For example, clean up food scraps and remove garbage regularly so that rodents aren’t able to find food. Proper sanitation removes these pests’ necessities, making your home a less comfortable space for them to live.
Preventative Sanitation
One of the biggest reasons why sanitation is such an effective form of IPM pest control is because it stops pest issues at the source. Rather than waiting for invasive pest populations to enter your home or property, regularly sanitizing ensures that there’s no invitation for pests to invade.
For all forms of pest control, it’s highly important to prioritize preventive measures. Partnering with a professional pest control company that actively provides both preventive methods of pest control, as well as reactive methods, can help ensure that your property is fully covered. When done correctly, preventive pest control measures can make reactive pest control unnecessary.