A ‘pizza addict’ piled more than £30,000-worth of used takeaway boxes and toilet paper inside his flat before concerned neighbours raised the alarm about the property’s stench.
Video from inside the filthy one-bedroom apartment in Southampton, Hampshire, taken by professional cleaner Joe Cole, shows almost every inch of the property swamped by rubbish.
The 43-year-old described it as ‘one of his worst jobs yet’ after he and four members of staff tackled the hoarder’s mess, which had piled up to the ceiling in some rooms.
Mr Cole said the ‘pizza addict’ man, who lived alone in the one-bedroom flat, had built the mess up over the last couple of years after being ‘stuck’ at home throughout lockdown.
Video from inside the filthy one-bedroom apartment in Southampton, Hampshire shows almost every inch of the property swamped by rubbish, with pizza boxes piled to the ceiling
An estimated 1,500 takeaway boxes were eventually removed from almost every room, including the bathroom and kitchen where the shower and sinks had been blocked.
The waste was piled three-quarters of the way up the walls in some rooms and even inside the shower, making it unusable.
Even worse, the owner had discarded used toilet roll and chicken bones in the flat instead of binning them.
Clearance specialist Joe has now shared shocking footage of the ‘landfill-like’ property, which took the team of five workers three days to empty.
He said: ‘We couldn’t even push the front door open fully, we had to squeeze in, until we got rid of some items.
‘It was just a dumping ground. Everything you’d normally put in your household bin was in that property – pizza boxes, chicken bones, toilet paper.
The ‘pizza addict’, who lived alone in the one-bedroom flat, had built the mess up over the last couple of years after being ‘stuck’ at home throughout lockdown
‘The whole flat was a dustbin basically – worse than a dustbin, it was like a landfill.’
Sharing his shock at the sight, Joe said even the bedroom was ‘completely full up’, with just a tiny space left for the man to go to sleep at night.
‘He obviously had a liking for pizzas because that was the majority – he must have been addicted to pizza,’ Joe adds.
‘It was piled three-quarters of the way up the walls. He’d done it in his way of doing it neatly, building a pizza wall around him.’
The self-professed ‘Clutter King’ set up his business six years ago and initially started on domestic households before establishing contracts with some local councils and housing associations.
He now takes on most of his jobs, including this one, through these means.
The years of ‘compacted’ food waste created such a stench that his next door neighbours reported the issue and kickstarted the clearance job.
An estimated 1,500 takeaway boxes were eventually removed from almost every room, including the bathroom and kitchen where the shower and sinks had been blocked
Joe said: ‘It was lockdown where he just got carried away stuck in the property for the three-year period plus.
‘He was aware of what he was doing but I think it just gets to such a stage where they can’t do anything about it because they’re too embarrassed.
‘They won’t speak to family members or let anyone in the property.
‘As soon as you start digging down and get to the bottom half of it where it’s been compacted and god knows how long it’s been there for, that’s when the smell starts circulating.
‘The smell was bad but the windows had been opened for air circulation [following the complaint] so it was probably even worse before that.’
Joe and four of his workers cleared the mounds of rubbish from the small flat in three days before taking it to commercial waste and recycling centres to be disposed of.
He says that he and his staff find the work and making a positive impact on people’s lives ‘rewarding’.
Joe said: ’95 percent of what was taken out of there was recycled – that’s something we’re very determined to do.
‘He was happy that we were doing it and we’re just happy to complete it, it’s rewarding.’
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