The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has released its outlook for November to January, and it doesn't leave much room for doubt. Maximum temperatures are very likely to be above average across much of Australia, with a greater than 80 per cent chance. Warm nights are even more certain: for much of the country, the chance of unusually high minimum temperatures is more than four times the normal likelihood.
For anyone who manages a residential tower, that forecast has a smell. The garbage chute is the one piece of waste infrastructure that runs through the whole building, and it is the one most likely to let a summer of food scraps be noticed on every floor.
We wrote about bin rooms and FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bins in September. This article is about the chute itself: why it struggles in the heat, what to do before December, and why keeping a record of that work matters more in New South Wales (NSW) this year.
Why chutes struggle in the heat
A chute is a long vertical shaft that dozens of households feed many times a day. Bags split, liquids run down the walls, and residue builds up inside the shaft and around the hopper doors. In mild weather that residue sits quietly. In a heatwave it doesn't.
Warm nights matter as much as hot days. In a cooler week, the shaft and the bin room below get a chance to cool down overnight. When minimum temperatures stay high, they never do, and the smell has nowhere to go but up.
Design plays a part too. A NSW Government better practice guide for waste in apartment buildings describes a Sydney high rise whose chute has two doglegs. They cause occasional blockages and make the cleaning brush at the top hard to use. That chute is vented, yet the guide still records occasional odour complaints from the penthouse apartments. Ventilation helps, but it isn't the whole answer.
A preseason checklist for your chute
Most of this is routine work. The point is to do it before the first heatwave, not after the first complaint.
Book a professional chute clean now. The building in the NSW guide has its chute professionally cleaned every three to six months. If yours hasn't been done since winter, get it booked before December, when contractors get busy.
Check every hopper door. Doors that don't close properly let air from the shaft into the corridors. Look for worn seals, bent frames and doors propped open.
Look at the discharge point. Council controls such as the City of Parramatta's guidelines for residential flat buildings expect the chute to discharge directly into a bin that prevents spillage and overflow. A misaligned or overfull bin means waste on the bin room floor.
Test the bin room basics. The same guidelines call for a room that is adequately ventilated, with a floor graded and drained to the sewer and a hose with a nozzle for washing down. In summer, all three get a workout.
Change bins more often. A full bin under a chute on a 35 degree day is the fastest route to a complaint from every floor. Agree on a summer changeover schedule with your caretaker.
Remind residents what the chute is for. Parramatta's guidelines treat chutes as garbage only, because the risk of glass breakage makes them unsuitable for recycling.
Help residents help the chute
Resident habits make or break a chute in summer. A short notice in the lift and beside each hopper will do more than another email.
Council advice for summer bins is a good template. Moira Shire Council suggests wrapping prawn shells, seafood and raw meat scraps and keeping them in the freezer until collection day, wrapping food waste in newspaper or paper towel, and keeping lids firmly closed. For a chute, add three simple requests:
Tie bags tightly, and never send loose food or liquids down the chute.
Use bags that fit through the hopper without tearing.
Report a blocked or jammed chute straight away.
Why the paperwork matters this year in NSW
NSW strata law is changing in stages, and several of those stages have already landed.
Since 27 October 2025, NSW Fair Trading has been able to investigate whether an owners corporation is meeting its duty to repair and maintain common property. Its powers include requiring documents and answers, and entering premises. Where it finds a breach, it can seek an enforceable undertaking, issue a compliance notice or penalty notice, or apply to the Tribunal for an order. From 23 October 2026, new and increased penalties apply when owners corporations fall short.
From 1 April 2026, 10 year capital works fund plans must use a standard form when they are revised or replaced. New multistorey schemes also need an initial maintenance schedule (IMS) that has been reviewed and certified by an independent surveyor.
None of these rules names garbage chutes. But a chute is common property, and a smelly chute is exactly the kind of issue that gets owners asking questions. A simple log answers most of them:
the date of each chute clean, and who did it
what the contractor found
repairs to hopper doors, seals and the discharge point
your summer bin changeover schedule
odour complaints, with the date and the floor
If a lot owner, a buyer's solicitor or Fair Trading asks what you've done to maintain the chute, a dated record is a far better answer than "we get it cleaned when it smells".
When cleaning isn't enough
Some buildings do everything right and still smell in February. Long chutes, doglegged shafts and tight bin rooms next to the lobby are the usual suspects. That is when continuous treatment at the bottom of the chute earns its place.
Our bin room odour control system works in the room at the bottom of the chute, where the smell starts. For strata buildings, we handle the assessment, installation and ongoing support. Once the source is under control, our fragrance systems can give lobbies and lifts a fresh, welcoming feel. You can read more on our strata odour control page.
Start now, not in January
The BoM outlook gives you a few weeks' warning. Use them well: book the chute clean, fix the doors, set the summer bin schedule, brief residents and start the log.
If your building has a chute that already smells in spring, it will be worse by Christmas. Talk to us about a free site assessment before the heat arrives. We look after strata buildings in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.