Hoarding Classifications

When Reaper Clean receives a call about hoarding, we are always prepared for the severity. We come ready to estimate for landfill weigh ins, dumpsters, hauling, and man power. We are also hyper aware of the hoarder’s mental struggle and their living conditions. When rummaging through years and years of people’s lives over the course of so many jobs, you can’t help but learn about this on a deeper level. With all of the psychology and item accumulation we’ve experienced as a team, Reaper Clean has created and established four specific waste patterns to determine the best disposal outcome to complete each job.

Gross Filth Hoarding happens when accumulated garbage, newspaper, boxes, plastic, cans, general debris and other repeated disposable items are found in piles throughout the home. These hoarding jobs can be extremely hazardous because not only is the home filthy, but these hoarders often keep items that have accumulated human waste or bodily fluids—such as diapers or needles.  

Animal Hoarding occurs when an individual has a large number of animals but fails to meet the animals’ basic care needs (for example, failing to providing food and water, clean environment, and/or veterinary care). Animals in hoarding situations often live in poor environments, and suffer from malnutrition, and severe overcrowding. These hoarding situations also pose a hazard risk due to the accumulation of animal waste inside of the home as well as the likelihood of finding deceased animals within the hoarding. 

• If you are affiliated with Animal Rescue and would like to assist with finding homes for animals in hoarding situations, or animals that have lost their humans please contact us.

Infomercial hoarding is the accumulation of unopened or opened items purchased through the television, Internet, or subscription businesses. These hoarding situations often have items like Tupperware, kitchen appliances, electronics, and books. These are actually items that may be able to be salvaged and donated to organizations in need because they are typically untouched or sealed. 

Combination hoarding is all of the collective behaviors above. These hoarding situations can exhibit garbage piles, animal accumulation, and sealed infomercial items all in one. All hoarders typically exhibit a combination of collected materials, however there is usually some leaning into one particular category.

As cleaners we are mostly trying to classify the waste we are dealing with and how to dispose of it correctly. Creating these categories for hoarding situations has helped us determine how we go about disposing of the waste, while being more mindful of the environment and our community. Reaper Clean chooses to be more environmentally conscious and involved with community resources whenever possible.