Planning for the Off-Season

If you are a park or attraction for who summer is the primary, and perhaps only season, Labor Day often marks the end of your year. Whether or not you officially close on Labor Day, attendance drops dramatically when kids return to school and the family vacations come to an end. However, as you prepare for your offseason, the end of the season brings some recycling and solid waste decisions.

Now that summer attendance has dropped, do you still need the same level of trash and recycling pickup that you had in July? Have you met with your waste hauler? Do you have a plan with your waste hauler and recycling service provider to scale back on the frequency of pickup and/or size of your containers during the off season? Have you identified when the start of next season is and when you will need additional pickups again?

• Are you transitioning right from tourist season into renovation season? Make sure you have lined up recycling and disposal of your construction, demolition, and renovation wastes. If you are in a part of the country where snow or cold limits your renovation season, you may only have a small window to fix the things that need fixing. Don’t let disposal issues derail your renovation options.
• Have you inventoried your stuff? Before you open again next season, will you need new recycling and trash bins? Will you need new signs? New benches or other furnishings? Have you gotten prices and lead times for these items?
• Have you reviewed your lead times and marked your calendars? Every item that you need has a lead time from the time you place the order until the time it arrives.
• Have you marked those critical deadlines onto a calendar so you have everything ready for a seamless opening next Spring?

Here’s hoping that your season that just ended met your expectations and that you enjoy your off-season. Do you have any end-of-season stories or advice that you want to share with other readers? If so, leave a comment below.