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HALIFAX, N.S. — Suppliers of rental porta potties are flushed with success but the surging demand for portable toilets has practically wiped out availability for service for unhoused people seeking to camp in municipal parks.

Jack Werry, the owner-operator of Jack’s Expert Flush and Toilet Rentals, agreed with the suggestion that Halifax Regional Council heard on Tuesday that the Number 1 reason for the shortage is the sheer volume of construction projects under way in the Halifax Regional Municpality.

Number 2 is the explosion of private events in the wake of two years of COVID-19 shutdowns.

“The government opened up everything so fast that now people are having too many parties all at once,” Werry said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

“That’s the other problem. Now that everything’s wide open, everybody’s calling for parties – toilets – and there’s just too many going on.”

Werry said his business didn’t slow down even during COVID. The pandemic actually increased demand because everybody had to have a porta potty.

“I was busy year round as it was, before COVID, and when COVID came my business increased 110 per cent out of 100, if you can figure that out,” Werry said.

“I own 400 toilets, and I’m almost out.”

The 68-year-old business owner rents out the portables on a monthly basis. He started the company 16 years ago and has expanded three times.

“More trucks on the road, more employees, and I cannot get people to go to work in this business. Nobody will do it. That’s the other problem.”

Werry said he has four employees on the roads and two doing office duties, but he’s looking for more.

“I’m an old man and I’m still going at it but I love doing it, so that’s a different story for me.

“I work seven days a week – not six, not five – I work every weekend. I got a lot of special events on now, too. I’m on the Garrison Grounds this weekend with an event. And ’cause I can’t get enough employees, it makes it hard on me.”

Mark Pratt, owner of Sea and Sky Portable Restrooms and Septic Services, had a similar tale.

“To kind of sum it all up, to give you a brief two-year overview, when the pandemic started, hand-wash stations became very popular and everything else slowed down, so they decreased the production of portable restrooms and increased the production of hand-wash stations,” Pratt said.

As North America came out of COVID shutdown and business boomed, construction took off, Pratt said, and his supplier told him they were 14,000 units short of previous production totals last year.

“So then there was a shortage,” he said.

“Because everybody was ordering them and they were already behind.

“We had ordered toilets last May and we just got them this May, so it was 12 months. Normally, it used to be about eight to 10 weeks.”

Pratt said Sea and Sky likes to keep at least 25 portable toilets available in stock for existing clients but that could easily come and go within a week. The latest shipments came in this week with another due next week, so they are fine for now to support existing customers.

“But as far as new customers, yeah, we’re really not taking on any new customers just because we don’t want to over-commit,” he said.

“We would normally go from – we’re not huge – we would do like three to seven toilet movements a week, either in or out, and last week, in nine weeks, we did 27 movements, which is just . . . . I own the company and I’m still scratching my head.”

The usual lifespan for one unit is about eight to 10 years, he said.

Construction provides most of his business, he added. But, like with Werry, there’s been a tremendous run in special-event demand.

 “Before COVID, we did 33 weddings for the season, May til October,” Pratt said.

“And then the last two years, we basically just cancelled any event that we did because people would book and then they would change the restrictions, they would cancel, so it was easier for us just to not do any special events, and now that the restrictions are lifted, last week on average we would have three to five phone calls per day that would be somebody inquiring about a wedding, special event, backyard party, and we just we’re full now as far as those.”

Those events are also mostly on weekends, he said, adding that rising fuel costs make it not really profitable to be hauling one toilet around for a weekend event.

Municipal spokesperson Ryan Nearing said in an email that the city is working to get the gear for the four park sites that will be available for limited camping.

“We’re engaging with suppliers to procure the necessary equipment to prepare the designated outdoor sheltering locations,” Nearing said.

“We anticipate a number of porta potties to be delivered in the coming weeks.”

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